•!•  TIRED  ►!< 


^Tctwa^44a^t.e^. 


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tl|?  SJtbrarg  of 
JPrtnrrtnn  Slj^nlngtral  S^^mtnarQ 

BV  4597  .W3  1881     "~~^   ^ 
Warner,  Anna  Bartlett,  1824 

1915. 
Tired  church  members 


vT, 


Tired  Church  Members. 


BY 

ANNA  WARNER, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  "FOURTH  WATCH,"  "THE  OTHER 
SHORE,"  ETC 


"So  two  or  three  cities  wandered  unto  one  city,  to  drink 
water;  but  they  were  not  satisfied:  yet  have  ye  not  returned 
unto  me,  saith  the  Lord." — Amos  iv.  8. 

"  Choked  with  cares  and  riches  and  pleasures  of  this  life." 
Luke  viii.  14. 


New  York: 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

530  Broadway. 
1881. 


Copyright,  i88t, 
By  Robert  Carter  &  Brothers. 


CONTENTS 


TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS 5 

MUSIC 24 

DANCING 38 

THEATRES 5 1 

GAMES 76 

WHAT   LEFT? 86 


€ixtts  ffifjurrij  IHem&ers. 


T  SUPPOSE  one  never  goes  heartily 
into  any  bit  of  Bible  study,  with- 
out finding  more  than  one  counted 
upon.  And  so  for  me,  searching  out 
this  subject  of  Christian  amusements, 
some  curious  things  have  come  to 
light.  As  for  instance,  how  very  lit- 
tle the  Bible  says  about  them  at  all. 
It  was  hard  to  find  catchwords  under 
which  to  look.  ''Amusement".?  there 
is  no  such  word  among  all  the  many 
spoken  by  God  to  men.  "  Recrea- 
tion"?— nor  that  either;  and  "game" 
is  not  in  all  the  book,  and  "rest"  is 
something  so  wide  of  the  mark  (in  the 


6  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

Bible  sense,  I  mean)  that  you  must 
leave  it  out  altogether.  And  ''pas- 
time "  ?  ah,  the  very  thought  is  an 
alien. 

*'  This  I  say,  brethren,  that  the  time 
is  short."  ^ 

Redeem  it,  buy  it  up,  use  it  while 
you  may, — such  is  the  Bible  stand- 
point. It  flies  all  too  quickly  with- 
out your  help. 

''My  days  are  swifter  than  a  weav- 
er's shuttle.'"^ 

"Pass  the  time  of  your  sojourning 
here  in  fear."' 

Not  in  frolic.  So  you  can  see  that 
I  was  puzzled.  However,  by  patiently 
putting  words  together,  noting  care- 
fully the  blanks  as  well,  some  things 
become  pretty  plain;  and  the  vexed 
question   of   Christian   amusements   is 

1  I  Cor.  vii.  29.  2  Job  vii.  6.  si  Pet.  i.  17. 


TIRED  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  7 

answered  clearly  enough  for  those  who 
are  willing  to  know.  But  as  we  go  on 
searching  and  comparing,  think  always 
of  the  command  once  given  and  never 
repealed : 

''He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  church- 
es."^ 

For  we  call  ourselves  Christians, — 
that  ''people  of  laws  divers  from  all 
other  people";  and  now  we  are  con- 
sulting our  statute  book. 

You  think,  then, — says  somebody, — 
that  Christians  are  to  do  nothing  but 
work,  work,  from  morning  to  night: 
that  the  Bible  forbids  all  play  and  all 
pleasure  ?  No,  I  think  nothing  of  the 
sort.  But  let  us  see  what  it  really 
does  say.  "To  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony," — and  abide  by  them. 

1  Rev.  iii.  22. 


8  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

To  begin  then  where  most  of  all, 
perhaps,  the  old  and  the  modern  times 
are  like  each  other, — feasts  have  al- 
ways been  in  vogue  and  always  per- 
mitted; only  for  Christians,  like  all 
else  that  concerns  them,  with  a  spe- 
cial set  of  regulations  as  to  time,  man- 
ner, and  behaviour.  You  do  not  think 
of  this  when  you  dress  for  your  dinner 
party:  you  did  not  suppose  the  Bible 
meddled  with  such  things.  Nay,  it 
"meddles"  (if  you  call  it  so)  with 
the  very  smallest  thing  a  Christian 
can  do. 

The  feasts  of  old  time  were  in  all  es- 
sentials so  like  the  feasts  of  to-day,  that 
not  all  the  changes  of  race,  dress,  and 
viands  can  much  confuse  the  likeness. 
There  is  the  great  christening  feast 
for  Isaac,^  and  the  wedding  feast  for 

1  Gen.  xxi.  S. 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.  9 

the  daughter  of  Laban/  and  the  Im- 
promptu set-out  in  Sodom  wherewith 
Lot  thought  to  entertain  the  angels.^ 
There  are  the  great  gatherings  of  young 
people  over  which  Job  was  so  anxious;' 
and  the  yearly  sacrifice  at  the  house 
of  Jesse  ''for  all  the  family,"*  remind- 
ing one  of  our  Thanksgiving. 

Then  follow  state  dinners  of  amity 
between  two  contracting  powers;  as 
when  Isaac  feasted  Abimelech,®  and 
David  feasted  Abner?  Then  court 
entertainments:  the  birthday  feast  of 
Pharaoh  to  all  his  servants,  when  he 
lifted  up  one  and  hanged  another,  and 
the  birthday  feast  of  Solomon  which 
marked  his  entrance  upon  a  new  life 
of  duty,  opportunity,  and  promise,  and 

1  Gen.  xxix.  25.  2  Gen.  xix.  3. 

3  Job  i.  7.  4  I  Sam.  xx.  6. 

5  Gen.  xxvi.  30.  6  II  Sam.  iii.  20. 


10  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

which  he  kept  like  a  young  heir  com- 
ing of  age. 

These  are  all  well  known  to  us:  and 
alas,  so  also  are  the  feasts  of  social 
excess,  like  those  of  Nabal;^  and  the 
idolatrous  feasts  of  the  men  of  She- 
chem,^  and  of  the  king  of  Babylon;' 
wherein  men  praise  only  ''the  gods 
of  gold,  and  of  silver,  of  brass,  and  of 
iron,  of  wood  and  of  stone." 

''And  the  harp,  and  the  viol,  the 
tabret,  and  pipe,  and  wine,  are  in  their 
feasts:  but  they  regard  not  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  neither  consider  the  op- 
erations of  his  hands."  "* 

"A  feast  is  made  for  laughter," — but 
this  laughter  is  "mad";  utterly  inter- 
dicted to  all  those  who  would  "live 
soberly,  righteously,  and  godly"  in  this 

1  I  Sam.  XXV.  26.  2  Judges  ix.  27. 

3  Dan.  V.  I.  4  Isa.  v.  12. 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.         il 

world/  Such  "revelllngs"  are  classed 
among  "those  works  of  the  flesh  which 
are  manifest";  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion about  them:  the  "revellings,  ban- 
quetings,"^  for  which  ''the  time  past  of 
our  life  may  suffice  us."'  That  time 
when  we  were  without  God  in  the 
world,  walking  as  other  Gentiles  walk. 
With  all  such  ''recreations"  the  true 
Israel  have  absolutely  nothing  to 
do. 

Does  it  follow  then  that  a  Christian 
must  stand  aloof  from  all  festivities 
that  are  not  wholly  among  Christian 
people.^  Not  quite  that.  "I  am  a 
companion  of  all  them  that  fear  thee," 
said  David,*  and  it  certainly  looks  ill 
for  a  man  if  his  habit  is  the  other  way. 
Yet  there  are  exceptions,  there  must 

1  Titus  ii.  12.  2  Gal.  v.  21. 

8  I  Pet.  iv.  3.  4  Ps.  cxix.  63. 


12         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

be, — else,  says  the  apostle,  **ye  must 
needs  go  out  of  the  world."  ^  But  like 
everything  else  for  you  and  me,  it  is 
all  within  regulations.  First  as  to  the 
going. 

''  If  any  of  them  that  believe  not  bid 
you  to  a  feast,  and  ye  be  disposed  to 
go-"^ 

And  then  follows  the  first  rule. 
Whatsoever  you  can  do  there  Chris- 
tian-wise; whatsoever  you  can  join  in 
that  will  not  implicate  you  as  a  pos- 
sible worshipper  of  his  idol  that  bade 
you — even  the  god  of  this  world — that 
do.  But  otherwise  there  is  the  strict- 
est hands-off!     And  for  two  reasons. 

**  Eat  not  for  his  sake  that  shewed  it, 
and  for  conscience  sake."' 

No  matter  if  it  be  something  as  sim- 
ple as  eating  and  drinking.     That  is 

1  I  Cor.  V.  lo.  2  I  Cor.  x.  27.  «  I  Cor.  x.  28. 


TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS.         13 

the  instance  given  by  the  apostle,  the 
eating  of  meat  which  had  been  first 
offered  to  an  idol.  And  just  as  once 
the  missionaries  in  a  far  off  Eastern 
island  never  tasted  beef  for  two  whole 
years,  because  they  could  get  none 
which  they  were  sure  had  not  been  so 
offered;  in  like  manner  are  you  called 
upon  to  absolutely  let  alone  every- 
thing which  may  cast  even  a  doubt 
upon  your  loyalty  to  your  Master. 

Can  you  go  to  the  entertainment  so, 
keeping  your  garments  spotless }  Can 
you  go  as  the  Lord  did  } 

''And  Levi  made  him  a  great  feast 
in  his  own  house;  and  there  was  a 
great  company  of  publicans  and  others 
that  sat  down  with  them."  ^ 

Pharisees  murmured,  but  the  Lord 
knew  why  he  went. 

X  Luke  V.  29. 


14  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

*'And  Jesus  answered  them,  They 
that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician; 
but  they  that  are  sick."^ 

If  you  can  go  thus,  to  do  your  Mas- 
ter's work;  mingling  with  his  enemies 
to  win  them  for  his  friends;  seeking 
their  company  not  for  their  wealth 
and  place,  but  rather  because  of 'their 
deepest  need  and  danger;  not  for  their 
gaiety,  but  for  the  abounding  joy  you 
would  fain  make  known  to  them  out 
of  your  own  heart-store:  then  I  should 
say  again:  "If  any  of  them  that  be- 
lieve not  bid  you  to  a  feast,  and  ye  be 
disposed  to  go," — go! 

But  beware  of  compromises,  —  that 
specious  temptation  not  to  make  re- 
ligion disagreeable.  It  can  never  be 
really  that  if  it  is  the  true  thing, — a 
burning  fire,  a  shining  light, — but  some 

1  Luke  V.  29. 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.         15 

one  has  well  said:  **  When  religion  loses 
its  power  to  repel,  it  loses  also  its  pow- 
er to  attract."  It  must  be  intense,  ac- 
tive, clear  enough  to  do  both.  "The 
disciple  is  not  above  his  Master.  If  they 
have  called  the  Master  of  the  house 
Beelzebub,  how  much  more  them  of  his 
household"  !^ 

And  it  is  only  as  an  uncompromising 
servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  you 
can  ever  hope  to  do  anything  for  him. 
On  all  days,  in  all  places,  you  must 
count  yourself  on  duty  and  under  or- 
ders. You  cannot  pledge  a  man  in  the 
wine  cup  to-night,  and  to-morrow  plead 
with  him  to  escape  for  his  life.  You 
cannot  join  in  the  "foolish  talking  and 
jesting,  which  are  not  convenient,"'' 
and  afterwards  reason  of  "righteous- 
ness,   temperance,    and    judgment    to 

1  Matt  X.  25.  3  Eph.  V.  4. 


1 6         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

come":  or  if  you  do,  people  will  not 
listen.  You  will  find  that,  like  Lot, 
you  have  "  lost  your  spiritual  credit." 
"He  seemed  as  one  that  mocked,  to 
his  sons-in-law." 

"  I  had  dined  every  week  all  winter 

with  Dr. ,"  said  a  lady  to  me,  ''and 

never  guessed  that  he  was  a  clergyman 
till  yesterday ! "  Johnson  said  of  Burke, 
that  ''  you  could  not  stand  with  him  five 
minutes  under  a  gateway  in  a  shower 
of  rain,  without  finding  out  that  he  was 
an  extraordinary  man," — and  how  long 
shall  it  take  people  to  learn  that  you 
are  a  Christian }  —  one  bought  back 
from  slavery,  called  to  be  a  saint,  heir 
of  a  kingdom  }  Ah,  how  ready  men 
are  to  parade  their  worldly  honours; 
their  orders  of  merit  and  badges  of 
bravery;  but  leave  their  Christian  col- 
ours at  home,  and  hide  their  uniform 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.         17 

with  a  pair  of  the  world's  overalls  ! 
Alas  ! — **If  the  trumpet  give  an  un- 
certain sound,  who  shall  prepare  him- 
self for  battle  ?  "  ^ 

Yes,  if  you  can  go  into  mixed  so- 
ciety as  the  Lord  went,  then  go.  But 
otherwise,  for  your  own  enjoyment,  a 
different  model  is  set. 

**  Then  Jesus,  six  days  before  the 
passover,  came  to  Bethany,  where 
Lazarus  was  which  had  been  dead, 
whom  he  raised  from  the  dead.  There 
they  made  him  a  supper;  and  Martha 
served;  but  Lazarus  was  one  of  them 
that  sat  at  the  table  with  him.  Then 
took  Mary  a  pound  of  ointment  of  spike- 
nard, very  costly,  and  anointed  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  and  wiped  his  feet  with  her 
hair;  and  the  house  was  filled  with  the 
odour  of  the  ointment."^ 

1  I  Cor.  ii.  8.  2  John  xii.  1-3. 


1 8         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

How  exquisite  the  picture  !  how  rare 
the  intercourse,  how  precious  the  re- 
sults !  A  few  of  the  Lord's  own  people 
met  together  with  the  Lord  himself; 
the  one  expensive  thing  mentioned  be- 
ing bought  for  him.  It  was  only  ''a 
supper";  and  there  were  sorrows  before 
them,  and  sorrows  behind,  and  only 
the  spikenard  was  ''very  costly," — that 
consecration  to  God  which  gives  him 
all  we  have:  but  its  fragrance  filled  the 
house.  And  not  all  Arabia  was  ever 
so  perfumed. 

And  must  Christians  give  no  other 
feasts  but  such  as  that  ?  some  one  may 
ask.  There  is  another  sort  mentioned, 
nay  even  insisted  upon;  but  if  the  first 
looks  to  you  dull,  the  second  will  seem 
— impossible  !  You  will  find  a  full  de- 
scription of  it  in  Luke  xiv.  13.  And 
so  far  as  I  know,  this  is  the  only  sort 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.         19 

of  great  entertainment  that  Christians 
are  encouraged  to  give;  ruling  out  in 
toto  the  tit-for-tat  customs  of  modern 
society.  ''  For  they  cannot  recom- 
pense thee."  But  it  also  spares  you 
the  perplexing  question  of  full  returns, 
for  these  people  have  given  you  nothing. 
Only  the  Lord  has  given, — and  now  bids 
you  keep  open  house  for  him  in  his 
absence.  And  do  you  see  t  the  great 
Master  of  assemblies  will  count  the  in- 
vitations as  given  to  himself,  and  will 
one  day  make  a  royal  return  for  them 
all  when  he  cometh  in  his  kingdom. 
"They  cannot  recompense  thee."^ 
What ! — never  invite  your  friends  un- 
less they  happen  to  be  poor  }  O,  yes 
indeed, — invite  them,  enjoy  them,  make 
much  of  them,  precious  things  as  friends 
are;  yet  spe?td  the   most  on  the  por- 

1  Luke  xiv.  14. 


20         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

tionless  lives  that  are  all  around  you. 
There  are  fancy  fountains  in  the  rich 
man's  grounds,  throwing  up  jets  of 
water  just  to  catch  the  sunlight:  let 
your  small  rills  of  refreshment  flow 
silently  to  places  where  the  tide  is 
out   and   the  streams   run  dry. 

"They  cannot  recompense  thee;  but 
thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  res- 
urrection of  the  just."^ 

And  as  soon  as  you  make  ready  a 
blessing — not  a  compliment — in  your 
hand,  unfashionable  dresses  will  not 
matter,  untutored  tongues  will  sound 
sweet;  and  your  feast  will  be  all  glori- 
fied, for  the  Lord  himself  will  be  there. 

"  Go  your  way,  eat  the  fat  and  drink 
the  sweet,  and  send  portions  unto  them 
for  whom  nothing  is  prepared."  ^ 

"The  Levite,  the  stranger,  the  fa- 

X  Luke  xiv.  14.  a  Neh.  viii.  10. 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.         21 

therless,  and  the  widow," ^ — "the  poor 
that  are  cast  out"^ — these  were  Israel's 
special  charge  under  the  law.  But  the 
gospel  gives  deeper  work. 

''When  thou  makest  a  dinner  or  a 
supper,  call  not  thy  friends,  nor  thy 
brethren,  neither  thy  kinsmen,  nor 
thy  rich  neighbours;  lest  they  also  bid 
thee  again,  and  a  recompense  be  made 
thee.  But  when  thou  makest  a  feast 
call  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame, 
the  blind;  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed, 
for  they  cannot  recompense  thee;  for 
thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  res- 
urrection of  the  just." ' 

The  Lord  dates  the  note  of  payment 
far  ahead,  but  indeed  I  think  he  is  bet- 
ter than  his  word,  and  deals  out  much 
coin  as  we  go  along;  it  is  such  won- 
derful pleasure  to  fill  an  empty  cup  ! 

1  Deut.  xiv.  27.  2  Isa.  IviiL  7.  3  Luke  xiv.  12,  13. 


2  2  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

This  is  "recreation,"  true  and  sweet; 
for  of  all  the  refreshments  from  one's 
own  toil  and  sorrow,  I  think  minister- 
ing to  other  people  is  about  the  best. 

I  have  said  nothing — is  it  needful  to 
say  aught  ? — of  the  Bible  rules  for  be- 
haviour at  a  feast.  One  is  ready  to  im- 
agine that  Christians  do  only  that  which 
is  **  lovely,  and  of  good  report."  Yet 
notice  a  few  things. 

"  They  love  the  uppermost  rooms  at 
feasts,"^  was  spoken  of  the  Pharisees; 
but  to  his  disciples  Christ  said:  "Who- 
soever will  be  chief  among  you,  let 
him  be  your  servant."'^ 

"When  thou  art  bidden,  go  and  sit 
down  in  the  lowest  room."' 

Other  things  follow  close  and  easily 
upon  that. 

"  Be  courteous." — 

1  Matt,  xxiii.  6.         2  Matt.  xx.  27.  3  Luke  xiy.  10. 


TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS.         23 

"Let  your  moderation  be  known  un- 
to all  men." 

''Whether  therefore  ye  eat  or  drink, 
or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  all  to  the 
glory  of  God." 

And  to  people  with  hearts  so  set, 
that  other  vexed  question  of  dress  will 
be  easy;  for  all  will  be  "clothed  with 
humility";^  and  the  spotless  garments 
will  so  far  outshine  the  pearls  and 
costly  array,  that  no  one  will  miss 
them,  nor  wish  them  there.  ^ 

1  I  Pet.  V.  5. 

2  Sir  Matthew  Hale  thus  charged  his  grandchildren:  "I  will 
not  have  you  begin  or  pledge  any  health;  for  it  is  become 
one  of  the  greatest  artifices  of  drinking,  and  occasions  of  quar- 
relling in  the  kingdom.  If  you  pledge  one  health,  you  oblige 
yourself  to  pledge  another,  and  a  third,  and  so  onward;  and 
if  you  pledge  as  many  as  will  be  drunk,  you  must  be  de- 
bauched and  drunk.  If  they  will  needs  know  the  reasons  of 
your  refusal,  it  is  a  fair  answer:  'That  your  grandfather  that 
brought  you  up,  from  whom,  under  God,  you  have  the  estate 
you  enjoy  or  expect,  left  this  in  command  with  you,  that  you 
should  never  begin  or  pledge  a  health.' " 


Wu0ic. 


''T'TTHAT  do  you  mean  by  'the 
world'?"  said  a  gentleman 
to  me.  *'I  suppose  of  course  you  rule 
out  music  and  painting."  So  people 
judge;  taking  for  granted  that  what- 
ever is  pleasant,  religion  makes  wrong. 
Rule  out  music  ? — why  it  exorcised 
Saul's  evil  spirit  !  Yet  even  for  the 
enjoyment  of  sweet  sounds  there  are 
laws  and  limitations. 

It  will  be  a  good  day  when  our  so- 
called  sacred  music  (much  of  it)  more 
nearly  resembles  that  of  old  time  and 
has  less  kinship  with  the  title  of  a  lit- 
tle book  yclept  "Rhymes  and  Jingles." 


MUSIC.  25 

A  paid  choir  (no  objection  to  that,  if 
you  can  buy  up  their  hearts  as  well) 
an  operatic  organist,  a  silent,  criticis- 
ing congregation.  Is  there  much  praise 
in  that  ?  much  worship  ?  much  refresh- 
ment for  a  tired  heart  ?  Look  how  it 
was  when  the  ark  of  God,  the  visible 
sign  of  his  presence,  was  brought  home 
to  Jerusalem, — all  took  part  in  the  mu- 
sic, from  the  king  down;  and  did  it 
unto   God. 

**And  David  and  all  Israel  played 
before  God  with  all  their  might,  and 
with  singing,  and  with  harps,  and  with 
psalteries,  and  with  timbrels,  and  with 
cymbals,  and  with  trumpets."^ 

''The  singers  went  before,  the  players 
on  instruments  followed  after;  among 
them  were  the  damsels  playing  with 
timbrels.     Bless   ye   God  in  the   con- 

1  I  Chron.  xiiL  8. 


26         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

gregations,  even  the  Lord,  from  the 
fountain  of  Israel."  ^ 

Not  much  like  a  quartette  and  its 
mute  audience !  Or  how  does  this 
compare,  with  the  way  we  hand  over 
the  praise  to  some  who  do  not  even 
profess  to  feel  it  ? 

**And  David  spake  to  the  chief  of 
the  Levites  to  appoint  their  brethren 
to  be  singers  with  instruments  of  mu- 
sic, psalteries  and  harps  and  cymbals, 
sounding,  by  lifting  up  the  voice  with 

joy-' 

There  is  not  much  **joy"  like  that 
behind  most  of  the  choir  curtains  in 
our  day;  but  by  such  means  one  would 
be  pretty  sure  of  good  music.  We  are 
not  told  whether  the  women  took  part 
in  the  ordinary  public  music  in  the 
temple;   but  on  all   special   occasions 

1  Ps.  Ixviii.  25,  26.  a  I  Chron.  xv.  z6. 


MUSIC.  .  27 

of  deliverance  and  thanksgiving  they 
had  their  full  share.  We  people  in  this 
Western  v/orld  are  so  silent  in  our  joy- 
as  in  our  grief, — as  apt  to  bow  the  head 
for  gladness  as  for  sorrow, — we  know 
nothing  like  those  grand  spontaneous 
bursts  of  music  that  once  resounded  on 
the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  echoed 
through  the  hill  country  round  about 
Jerusalem. 

**  Then  sang  Moses  and  the  children 
of  Israel  this  song  unto  the  Lord,  say- 
ing, I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  he 
hath  triumphed  gloriously."^ 

That  was  from  the  men.  And  an- 
swering them  came  the  softer  voices 
of  Miriam  and  ''all  the  women,"  cheer- 
ing them  on: 

"Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,  for  he  hath 
triumphed  gloriously."^ 

1  Ex.  XV.  I.  2  Ex.  XV.  21. 


28         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

This  was  no  written  music  they  had 
met  to  practise;  it  was  fresh  out  of 
their  hearts;  with  all  their  enemies 
''dead  upon  the  shore,"  and  Israel 
free. 

Or  listen  to  the  chorus  of  women 
that  *'  came  out  of  all  the  cities  of  Is- 
rael "  to  meet  the  army,  when  David 
had  conquered  the  Philistine  in  single- 
handed  fight. 

*'  And  the  women  answered  one  an- 
other as  they  played,  and  said, 

"Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands" — 

"And  David  his  ten  thousands  " — 

You  perceive  that  they  understood 
music  in  those  days;  every  word  in  the 
great  swell  of  song  so  distinct,  that 
Saul  heard  every  word  —  and  "was 
very  wroth." 

So  "at  the  dedication  of  the  wall 
of  Jerusalem"   (think   of  dedicating  a 


MUSIC.  29  ■ 

city  wall !  how  they  must  have  be- 
lieved Ps.  127)  the  dedication  was 
kept 

''With  gladness,  both  with  thanks- 
giving, and  with  singing,  with  cym- 
bals,  psalteries,  and  harps."  ^ 

And  as  the  bands  of  people  went 
up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  three  great 
feasts,  they  sang  and  chanted  from 
time  to  time  as  they  marched  along, 
the  Levites  at  their  head  beginning 
the  song,  and  the  rest  joining  in. 

"I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto 
me— "^ 

"As  the  mountains  are  round  about 
Jerusalem"^  —  and  all  the  rest.  Ah 
what  music  !  You  see  the  Bible  is  a 
great  favourer  of  sweet  sounds. 

But  all  this,  you  will  say,  was  public 
and  special, — not  meant  for  recreation. 

X  Neh.  xii.  27.  2  Ps.  cxxii.  i.  8  Ps.  cxxv.  2. 


30         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

Let  US  listen  to  the  Bible  music  which 
is  private  and  personal,  and  you  will 
find  it  every  bit  as  sweet. 

*' Praise  the  Lord  with  harps.  Sing 
unto  him  with  the  psaltery  and  an  in- 
strument of  ten  strings.  Sing  unto  him 
a  new  song;  play  skilfully  with  a  loud 
noise."  ^ 

Are  you  not  glad  of  that  word 
^'skilfully " .?  You  see  you  may  cul- 
tivate your  talent  to  the  last  point, 
and  may  have  any  amount  of  new 
music.  The  Lord's  people  are  not 
meant  to  be  bunglers,  in  any  line. 
And  yet  some  seem  to  think  it  is 
no  matter  how  they  sing  holy  words ! 
This  ''new  song"  may  perhaps  be  what 
David  speaks  of  in  another  place: 

''He  hath  put  a  new  song  in  my 
mouth,    even   praise   unto   our   God."'' 

1  Ps.  xxxiil.  2,  3.  2  Ps.  xl.  3. 


MUSIC.  31 

For  as  "  his  mercies  are  new  every 
morning/  so  should  also  our  praises 
be;  new,  fresh,  vigorous;  not  always 
the  same  old  words  to  the  same  old 
tune.  ''The  songs  of  Zion,"  so  sung, 
are  wondrously  sweet;  even  the  poor 
captives  in  Babylon  were  called  upon 
to  sing  them  for  the  pleasure  of  their 
heathen  captors. 

''The  songs  of  Zion."  Many  of  you 
imagine  they  are  all  pretty  much  alike; 
all  solemn  and  tedious  and  slow.  But 
listen. 

"I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  be- 
cause he  hath  dealt  bountifully  with 
me."  =* 

Can  anything  be  gayer  than  that } 
Or  anything  sweeter  than  this: 

"My  heart  is  fixed,  O  God,  my  heart 
is  fixed:  I  will  sing  and  give  praise."' 

1  Lam  iii.  23.  2  Ps.  xiii.  6.  8  Ps.  Ivii.  7. 


32  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

Or  where  will  you  find  richer  chords 
that  this: 

"I  will  sing  of  thy  power,  yea,  I  will 
sing  of  thy  mercy  in  the  morning:  for 
thou  hast  been  my  defence  and  refuge 
in  the  day  of  my  trouble."^ 

New,  skilful,  and  then  comes  in  an- 
other requirement;  songs  should  be 
sensible. 

*'  I  will  sing  with  the  spirit,  and  I  will 
sing  with  the  understanding  also."^ 

Know  what  you  sing.  Does  this 
keep  out  all  but  sacred  music }  I 
should  not  think  that.  But  it  does 
forbid  singing  you  know  not  what  in 
a  foreign  tongue,  or  mere  dead  non- 
sense in  your  own.  I  cannot  see,  for 
my  part,  why  it  is  much  better  to  sing 
''idle  words  "  than  to  say  them.  How 
vapid,  how  senseless,  is  many  a  song 

1  Ps.  lix.  i6.  2  I  Cor.  xiv.  15. 


MUSIC.  33 

one  hears  from  a  pretty  mouth  and  a 
sweet  voice.  And  in  music  as  else- 
where, there  is  no  middle  ground: 
whatever  does  not  edify — build  up — 
pulls  down. 

*'It  is  better  to  hear  the  rebuke  of 
the  wise,  than  for  a  man  to  hear  the 
song  of  fools."  ^ 

How  run  the  directions  } 

**  Singing  and  making  melody  in  your 
hearts  to  the  Lord."  ^ 

Can  you  do  that }  If  not,  music 
is  no  true  recreation  to  you.  What- 
ever chills  your  feeling  for  eternal 
things,  making  them  seem  dull  and 
far  away,  is  no  breath  of  life-refresh- 
ment, but  comes  bearing  the  fumes 
of  death. 

Do  you  think  you  would  never  sing 
at   all,    unless   you    sometimes    forgot 

1  Eccle.  vii.  5.  2  Eph.  v.  19. 


34         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

such  solemn  thoughts  ?  Ah  there  you 
are  mistaken. 

*'  Behold,  my  servants  shall  sing  for 
joy  of  heart."  ^ 

Not  forgetfully,  but  in  full  remem- 
brance. 

'*  Is  any  merry.?  let  him  sing  psalms."'^ 

''  Thy  statutes  have  been  my  songs 
in  the  house  of  my  pilgrimage." ' 

Now  somebody  will  say  that  I  have 
wandered  quite  away  from  recreation, 
and  gone  off  to  church.  But  no;  I 
am  speaking  of  heart  and  home  mu- 
sic. You  all  know  that  there  is  no 
recreation  about  most  of  your  music 
now-a-days.  You  bore  yourselves  and 
other  people  with  much  practising,  and 
when  you  have  learned,  as  you  think, 
then  you  drop  it  all.  Who  is  ready 
with  a  song  for  some  weary,  tuneless 

X  Isa.  Ixv.  14.  2  James  v.  13.  a  Ps.  cxix.  54. 


MUSIC.  35 

life  ?  or  who  **  keeps  up  her  music  "  till 
the  tired  years  of  her  own  ?  Work  for 
it,  pay  for  it,  drop  it, — that  is  the  rec- 
ord. Your  music,  as  it  is,  is  a  dead 
thing;  and  I  want  you  to  put  the  prin- 
ciple of  life  in  it.  For  whatever  you 
begin  for  your  Master,  you  will  also 
hold   fast  for  him. 

Read  over  these  words  and  ponder 
them  well: 

**  He  that  had  received  the  five  tal- 
ents, went  and  traded  with  the  same, 
and  made   them  other  five   talents."  ^ 

Every  gift  the  man  had,  was  used 
for   Christ. 

How  precious  a  gift  this  musical 
power  is  !   how  usable  a  gift. 

"  A  very  lovely  song  of  one  that 
hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play 
well  on  an  instrument."^ 

1  Matt.  XXV.  i6.  2  Ez.  xxxiii.  32. 


^6         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

How  much  it  can  do  for  ourselves, 
for  the  world. 

"  David  took  an  harp,  and  played 
with  his  hand;  so  Saul  was  refreshed, 
and  was  well,  and  the  evil  spirit  de- 
parted from  him."  ^ 

I  have  never  forgotten  how  a  lady 
with  no  great  musical  skill  or  educa- 
tion sang  a  verse  of  a  hymn  for  me  one 
night.  It  was  at  a  little  party,  so  she 
could  not  raise  her  voice  above  the 
softest  undertone;  but  she  sang  that 
verse  just  to  let  me  hear  the  tune, 
which  I  did  not  know.  The  words 
were  familiar: 

"There  is  a  fountain  filled  with 
blood  "— 

I  suppose  I  have  often  heard  them 
what  you  call  "better  sung";  but  never 
with  more  lovely  effect.     Every  word, 

1  I  Sam,  xvi.  23. 


MUSIC.  37 

every  note,  was  absolutely  distinct  and 
clear,  yet  not  one  rising  above  that 
undertone:  I  doubt  if  even  the  people 
nearest  to  us  heard;  and  the  most  rest- 
less nerves,  the  weariest  head,  could 
have  listened  and  been  refreshed. 
I  know  my  eyes  grew  full;  and  I 
thought  to  myself,  ''Ah,  you  have 
practised  your  voice  by  many  a  sick 
bed,  and  trained  it  for  just  that  work." 

*'The  evil  spirit  departed  from  Saul." 
But  what  of  music  that  puts  the  evil 
spirit  into  men  }  Of  songs,  however 
sweet  sounding,  that  are  written  in 
the  service  of  the  devil,  and  sung  at 
the  high  court  of  the  world  1  For  this 
is  your  rule: 

''  Singing  with  grace  in  your  hearts 
to  the  Lord."' 

Like  your  speech, ''  al way  with  grace." 

1  Col.  iii.  i6. 


lianctns. 


'<  '^  I  ^O  everything  there  is  a  season, 
and  a  time  to  every  purpose 
under  heaven."^ 

And  so  it  comes  among  the  rest, 
that  there  is  "a  time  to  dance." ^  Such 
being  the  case,  we  have  only  to  find 
out  the  when  and  the  how;  for  of  course, 
for  Christians,  dancing  too  must  have 
its  rules.  In  feasting  the  word  is,  "Do 
all  to  the  glory  of  God";  and  in  music, 
"With  melody  in  your  hearts  to  the 
Lord";  and  now  for  dancing  the  order 
comes: 

"Let  them  praise  his  name  in  the 
dance." ' 

1  Eccle.  iii.  i.  3  Eccle.  iii.  4.  3  Ps.  cxlix.  3. 


DANCING.  39 

We  are  to  praise  the  Lord  with  our 
whole  lives;  in  our  recreation  no  less 
than  in  our  work.  You  see  it  is  all  one: 
with  that  proviso  you  may  do  anything. 

"Praise  him  for  his  mighty  acts: 
praise  him  according  to  his  excellent 
greatness." 

**  Praise  him  with  the  timbrel  and 
dance."  ^ 

I  fancy  you  did  not  expect  this, 
secretly  believing  that  the  Bible  was 
all  against  dancing.  I  fancy  most  peo- 
ple would  start  back  and  say  it  cannot 
be  done.  If  it  cannot,  or  if  hy  .you  it 
cannot,  then — for  you  —  the  dancing 
question  should  be  settled  once  and 
for  all.  The  Lord  has  given  you  ''the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heav- 
iness,"^ and  you  are  not  at  liberty  to  lay 
it  off  for  any  dancing  gear  whatever. 

1  Ps.  cl.  2,  4.  2  Isa.  1x1.  3. 


40  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

**  Ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  roy- 
al priesthood,  an  holy  nation,  a  pecu- 
liar people;  that  ye  should  shew  forth 
the  praises  of  him  who  hath  called 
you  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvel- 
lous light."' 

The  condition  is  absolute;  and  all 
doubts  upon  the  dancing  question  are 
at  an  end  for  you.  But  for  those  who 
like  to  inquire  into  possibilities,  let  us 
search  a  little  further.  "  Praise  him  in 
the  dance." — Has  it  ever  been  done  } 
Never, — in  such  dances  as  you  are  ac- 
customed to.  But  a  great  while  ago, 
on  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  while 
the  men  were  chanting  the  praises  of 
that  God  who  had  brought  them  safe  out 
of  Egypt,  the  women  banded  together 
*'with  timbrels  and  with  dances"^  (no 
;;^/;ir^^ dances,  observe),  and  so,  dancing 

1  I  Pet.  ii.  9.  2  Ex.  XV.  20. 


DANCING.  41 

for  joy  at  the  great  deliverance,  an- 
swered the  men,  chorus  like: 

"Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,  for  he  hath 
triumphed  gloriously."  ^ 

So  after  Jephthah's  victory,'^  came 
out  his  daughter  to  meet  him  "with 
timbrels  and  with  dances." 

So  after  the  rout  of  the  Philistines, 

"  The  women  came  out  of  all  the 
cities  of  Israel,  singing  and  dancing, 
to  meet  king  Saul."' 

And  though  praise  of  the  human 
agents  mingled  in,  yet  only  Divine 
power  had  won  the  day,  and  well 
they  knew  it.  And  again  you  remem- 
ber how  when  the  ark  was  brought 
home  to  Jerusalem, 

"David  danced  before  the  Lord  with 
all  his  might."  * 

1  Ex.  XV.  20.  2  Judges  xi.  3. 

3  I  Sam.  xviii.  6.  4  II  Sam.  vi.  14. 


42         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

Does  it  seem  very  strange  to  you  ? 
So  it  did  to  David's  wife  on  that  oc- 
casion; for  as  she  had  no  praise  in  her 
heart,  no  sympathy  with  the  joy,  of 
course  the  expression  of  it  tried  her 
patience.  Dancing  for  joy, — we  often 
use  the  image,  but  these  people  did 
the  thing.  It  is  hard  enough  to  keep 
still  sometimes,  if  one  is  very  happy. 

Not  like  our  dancing  ! — you  say.  In- 
deed not  much.  No  special  steps,  no 
intricate  figures,  no  elaborate  positions, 
no  dressing  for  effect.  David  even  laid 
his  royal  robes  aside,  instead  of  putting 
them  on;  they  were  in  his  way.  How 
could  one  dance  for  joy  in  a  state 
dress.?  No  need  of  partners,  where 
every  one  danced  for  glad  thankfulness 
of  heart.  No  ''envy,  malice,  and  all 
uncharitableness "  stirred  up  by  an- 
other's dancing  or  another's  dress;  no 


DANCING.  43 

"wall-flowers,"  no  monopoly.  No  late 
hours,  leaving  mind  and  body  jaded  for 
the  next  day's  work.  I  think  **  dancing 
before  the  Lord  "  must  have  been  very 
pure  refreshment.  And  by  the  way, 
speaking  of  dress,  I  feel,  somehow,  as 
if — would  people  but  choose  their  or- 
naments out  of  that  treasure-chest  of 
jewels  '*a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  ball 
dresses  would  lose  their  charm,  and 
the  German  its  great  attraction.  One 
never  likes  to  go  where  one's  dress  is 
out  of  keeping. 

Christian  dancing,  for  Christian  joy. 
There  was  music  and  dancing,  as  well 
as  feasting,  when  the  prodigal  son  came 
home;  returned  from  his  sins,  washed 
from  his  defilement,  clothed  at  last  in 
"  the  best  robe "  a  sinn 
According  to  the  word: 

1  Luke  XV.  II. 


44  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

"  Thou  hast  turned  for  me  my  mourn- 
ing into  dancing."^ 

Is  such  glad  thankfulness  so  rare  in 
our  days  that  people  have  forgotten 
how  it  acts  ?  And  would  such  dancing 
be  possible  now  ?  I  do  not  know.  But 
answer  this  question,  and  you  settle 
at  once  the  other  perplexity  wheth- 
er Christians  may  dance.  For  there  is 
no  other  sort  of  dancing  permitted  to 
them^  than  this  which  springs  up  out 
of  the  mercies  of  the  Lord,  and  is  all 
consecrated  to  his  praise. 

It  is  not  quite  the  only  sort  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible;  but  the  others  do 
not  look  attractive  upon  paper.  One 
of  them  indeed  comes  more  properly 
under  another  head,  and  the  rest  are 
all  idolatrous;  in  the  service  and  hon- 
our  of  that   biggest   idol,   the  world; 

1    Ps.  XXX.   II. 


DANCING.  45 

whether  any  special  graven  image  was 
set  up  or  not.  Dances  indulged  in  only 
by  heathen,  or  by  nominal  Christians 
who  had  swerved  from  their  allegiance. 

When  Moses  tarried  long  in  the 
mount,  receiving  his  orders,  the  peo- 
ple, you  remember,  grew  tired  and  rest- 
less,— in  want  of  recreation,  we  should 
call  it  now, — and  then  they  ''quickly 
corrupted  themselves."  Weary  of  wait- 
ing, impatient  of  the  monotony  of  their 
life,  out  of  their  own  possessions  they 
made  themselves  an  idol,  and  then — 
danced  before  it  !  conducting  them- 
selves as  well  became  those  who  had 
chosen  a  god  that  could  neither  hear 
nor  see. 

"  The  people  sat  down  to  eat  and 
drink,  and  rose  up  to  play."  ^ 

And  you  will  find  this  is  always  just 

1  Ex.  xxxii.  5. 


46         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

what  people  do  after  unhallowed  rec- 
reation: they  never  rise  up  to  do  good 
work.  Test  your  amusements  by  that. 
Recreation  should  be  a  re-creation  to 
every  noble  end. 

Neither  joy,  nor  thankfulness,  nor 
the  unbending  from  labour,  was  there 
among  those  poor  Israelites  —  those 
people  of  the  Lord  in  name;  but  only 
lawless  mirth  and  unhallowed  indul- 
gence. 

**He  saw  the  calf  and  the  dancing, 
and  Moses'  anger  waxed  hot."^ 

You  think  I  am  very  hard  upon  dan- 
cing; and  I  have  reason.  ''Two  years 
ago,"  said  a  young  girl  to  me,  ''you 
told  me  that  if  I  went  on  doing  these 
things  I  should  myself  change;  that  I 
could  not  do  them,  and  keep  myself. 
I  was  almost  angry  then,  but  do  you 

1  Ex.  XV.  19. 


DANCING.  47 

know  it  has  come  true  ?  I  have  changed. 
Things  that  I  minded  and  shrank  from 
then,  I  never  notice  now.  I  have  got 
used  to  them,  as  you  said.  It  frightens 
me  when  I  think  of  it."  Poor  child  ! — 
neither  fright  nor  warning  have  stayed 
her  course  since  then.  A  ceaseless 
thirst  for  excitement,  an  endless  round 
of  unsatisfying  pleasure — so  called, — a 
weary,  old,  disappointed  look  on  the 
young  face;  broken  engagements,  for- 
gotten promises,  a  wasted  life, — this  is 
what  it  has  all  come  to.  *'  Hard  upon 
dancing " }  yes,  I  certainly  have  rea- 
son. Do  I  not  find  it  right  in  the  way 
of  some  of  my  Bible  Class  who  might 
else  become  Christians  }  do  I  not  know 
how  it  tarnishes  the  Christian  profes- 
sion of  others  }  Do  not  the  careless 
young  men  in  the  class  boast  that 
they  can  get  the  Church  members  to 


48         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

go  with  them  anywhere — for  a  dance  ? 
Or  how  would  you  like  to  have  a  young 
girl  come  to  you,  frightened  at  things 
she  had  permitted  at  a  ball  the  night  be- 
fore, entreating  to  know  if  you  thought 
them  ^^very  bad"  ? 

Examine  it,  test  it  for  yourself;  only 
be  honest.  Can  you  dance  **  in  ar- 
mour" ?  crowned  and  shielded  and  shin- 
ing with  ''the  hope  of  salvation,"  with 
"righteousness " and  ''faith "  ?  Are  your 
shoes  "  peace  "  ?  peace  of  heart,  of  con- 
science. Is  your  belt  the  girdle  of 
"truth".''  Can  you  "shew  your  col- 
ours "  in  the  throng  }  Dare  you  }  Are 
they  not  rather  trailing  in  the  dust, 
or  quietly  pocketed,  or  left  at  home  } 
Think  honestly,  and  answer  to  your- 
self how  it  is.  As  in  feasting,  so  here: 
you  cannot  dance  all  night  with  peo- 
ple, and  next  day  warn  them  against 


DANCING.  49 

"the  world,  and  the  things  of  the 
world,"  and  even  hope  to  be  listened 
to.  '*I  am  as  good  as  most  Church 
members," — ah  how  often  we  teachers 
and  talkers  meet  that  rebuff!  And 
how  well  the  Lord  knew  when  he 
said: 

*'  He  that  is  not  with  me,  is  against 
me." 

**Doth  a  fountain  send  forth  at  the 
same  place  sweet  water  and  bitter  ?  "^ 

*' A  time  to  dance." — Yes:  whenever, 
and  wherever,  you  can  do  it  as  the 
whole-souled  servant  of  Christ.  And 
how  about  dancing  at  home,  among 
ourselves,  as  people  say.''  —  Without 
going  any  further,  one  thing  forbids 
it  all.  If  you  dance  anywhere, — you, 
a  professing  Christian, — in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  you  dance  everywhere.     The 

1  James  iii.  11. 


50         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

world  allows  no  middle  ground  for 
Christians.  '*  I  saw  her  dancing," — 
and  nobody  stops  to  inquire  when,  or 
with  whom,  or  how.  So  that  there  is 
nothing  for  you  but  this: 

**  Avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it,  turn  from 
it,  and  pass  away."  ^ 

1  Prov.  iv.  15. 


Efjeatresf. 


TF  I  say  that  it  degrades  oneself  to 
find  pleasure  in  degrading  things 
or  degraded  people,  you  will  perhaps 
admit  the  fact  but  deny  that  it  has  any 
application  to  theatre-going.  Is  it  not 
a  fashionable,  intellectual,  and  what 
not,  amusement  ?     Let  us  see. 

Many  of  you  who  yet  are  theatre- 
goers, know  well  that  you  would  feel 
yourselves  degraded  if  even  a  dear 
friend  went  on  the  stage. 

*'She  has  trailed  an  honoured  name 
in  the  dust,"  —  so  have  I  heard  the 
comment,  from  one  who  was  not  even 
a  personal  friend.    ''She  might  at  least 


52  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

have  taken  another  name  !  " — And  the 
speaker  was  not  brought  up  among 
Puritans,  and  belonged  to  a  Church 
which — as  a  Church — has  no  fear  of 
the  theatre.  I  think  occasional  indul- 
gence was  common  enough  in  the  fam- 
ily. And  the  young  actress  had  done 
nothing  but  become  an  actress,  keep- 
ing her  own  name.  Friends  are  mor- 
tified,— and  yet  friends  go  to  see,  and 
to  help  along. 

'*  But  what  shall  actors  do .'' "  you 
say:  "it  is  their  way  of  getting  a 
livelihood."  No,  not  if  support  were 
given  only  to  other  ways.  A  man 
may  make  a  round  sum  at  a  rowing 
match  which  cripples  his  strength  for 
life;  or  by  leaping  across  Passaic  Falls, 
till  he  breaks  his  neck;  he  may  set  up 
for  a  wizard  or  a  conjuror  or  a  quack 
doctor, — he  may  pick  your  pocket  or 


THEATRES.  53 

fire  your  house, — all  in  the  way  of  bus- 
iness. The  only  question  is  in  which 
way  will  you  help  him  on.  Things 
must  be  judged  of  quite  apart  from 
their  money-making  results.  The  old 
African  maker  of  ''greegrees"  (charms) 
burns  them  all  when  she  becomes  a 
Christian;  and  the  young  carpenter  just 
converted  under  Mr.  Moody's  preach- 
ing, gives  up  his  only  job  because  he 
can  not  do  it  for  Christ,  and  will  not 
even  drive  a  nail  in  the  scaffolding 
about  a  theatre.  For  the  money  that 
changes  hands  there,  is  the  price  of 
*'  the  souls  of  men." 

You  do  not  believe  all  this:  you  do 
not  believe  that  evil  can  hide  among 
such  fascinations.  And  for  the  actors, 
they  are  not  men  and  women  !  Are 
they  not  kings  and  queens  and  fairies  "i 
The  glamour  of  their  dress,  the  strange- 


54  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

ness  of  the  scenes,  the  un-everydaj^ 
tragic  or  fantastic  air  of  it  all;  with 
sometimes  the  witchery  of  music  or 
the  wonders  of  artistic  effect,  lay  a 
spell  upon  your  common  sense.  Do 
I  not  know  ?  Have  I  not  seen  young 
Christian  girls  from  the  country  a 
standing  jest  with  people  who  knew 
the  world,  because  —  beginning  with 
what  the  laughers  called  "a  holy 
horror"  of  the  theatre — they  yielded 
and  went  '*just  once."  Then,  ''only 
once  more," — and  then  presently  would 
go  every  night,  to  see  everything  ! 

When  Miriam  was  six  years  old, 
some  acquaintances  over  -  persuaded 
her  father  to  let  them  take  her  to 
see  Cinderella, — Cinderella  and  some 
part  of  Der  Freischutz;  and  one  who 
was  there  remembers  well  how  hard 
the  little  hands  grasped  the  edge  of 


THEATRES.  55 

the  box,  and  how  impossible  it  was 
to  win  the  young  eyes  round,  even  by 
a  vision  of  sugarplums.  To  the  end 
of  her  life,  I  fancy,  she  will  see  now 
and  then  a  picture  out  of  that  fairy- 
land. Next  day  Miriam  entreated  ear- 
nestly to  have  the  pleasure  over  again; 
strengthening  her  plea  with  this  re- 
markable promise,  that  if  she  might 
go  once  more,  she  would  never  do 
anything  wrong  again  as  long  as  she 
lived  !  Her  father  paced  up  and  down 
the  room  with  a  grave  smile  upon  his 
lips,  the  little  suppliant  following  with 
eager  feet,  ever  renewing  her  request, 
and  he  answering  little;  for  the  mat- 
ter was  beyond  her  ken.  But  he  was 
a  Christian  who  kept  off  the  Debat- 
able land;  and  where  his  foot  might 
not  enter,  he  would  not  send  his  child. 
Had  he  not  himself  dedicated  her  to 


56         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

be  the  Lord's  ?  She  never  went  again. 
Never  to  the  theatre;  never  again  to 
any  such  place,  until  long  afterwards; 
and  with  that  going  he  had  nothing 
to  do. 

Miriam  had  grown  up,  had  become 
a  Christian  and  a  happy  one;  and  as 
yet  no  ''flatterer"  had  beguiled  her 
off  upon  the  "Enchanted  Ground." 
But  at  last  the  temptation  came,  in 
a  very  specious  way. 

There  was  a  new  Prima  Donna  at 
the  opera  house  that  winter;  a  young, 
pretty  women,  working  hard  (it  was 
said)  to  support  her  mother;  and  Mir- 
iam, going  daily  to  see  dear  friends  at 
the  same  hotel,  often  heard  the  sing- 
ling and  practising  that  went  on  in 
the  Prima  Donna's  rooms.  And  Mir- 
iam was  very  fond  of  music,  and  had 
been  able  to  hear  very  little  that  was 


THEATRES.  57 

really  good;  and  now  in  a  moment  one 
thing  took  possession  of  her;  she  mtist 
go  to  the  opera  ! — Tickets  too  costly, 
and  no  one  to  take  her,  made  the  thing 
look  impossible  on  the  one  side;  and 
on  the  other — there  was  her  Christian 
name  and  promise.  Of  course  it  was 
wrong  for  Christians  to  go  ! — she  knew 
that.  Yet  for  the  time,  nothing  seemed 
tangible  or  real  but  this;  go  she  must! 
And  so  from  week  to  week  this  fever 
of  desire  grew  and  increased,  fed  from 
time  to  time  by  those  snatches  of  song 
that  floated  through  the  great  hall  of 
the  hotel. 

At  last  one  day  her  friends  said 
(knowing  nothing  of  all  this),  ''Mir- 
iam, you  must  go  with  us  to  an  un- 
dress rehearsal.  We  have  got  tickets, 
and  you  m.ust  go."  Then  beginning  to 
answer  the  objections  they  expected — 


58         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

*'It  is  only  undress,"  they  said;  **the 
house  half  lighted,  and  the  actors  not 
in  costume.  Anybody  might  go, — and 
you  must.'' — "It's  a  very  moral  opera," 
began  another.  "  Of  course  we  would 
never  take  you  to  see  anything  else." 

Miriam  was  too  ignorant  of  the 
world  and  its  theatres  to  fairly  un- 
derstand all  these  advantages,  —  in- 
deed I  fancy  longing  made  such  a 
din  in  her  ears  that  she  paid  but  lit- 
tle attention.  For  a  while  she  with- 
stood— then  desire  rose  up  like  a  whirl- 
wind and  carried  all  before  it.  They 
had  tickets  for  that  very  night, — her 
friends,  said  one  morning,  —  a  ticket 
for  her  also  —  and  an  escort.  She 
yielded  and  went.  Went  first  to  take 
tea  with  her  friends,  on  the  way;  and 
I  have  heard  her  speak  of  the  thrill- 
ing, pent-up  excitement  of  that  hour 


THEATRES.  59 

or  two  before  it  was  time  to  set  out: — 
Excitement  that  made  her  as  still  as 
a  mouse,  and  the  careless  chatter  of 
her  friends  incomprehensible! — that 
made  cake  into  plain  bread  and  but- 
ter, and  bread  and  butter  into — chips, 
for  all  she  knew.  Whether  the  ex- 
citement was  all  pleasure  I  doubt  if 
she  could  tell;  yet  if  you  think  Mir- 
iam knew  she  was  doing  wrong,  you 
would  be  mistaken.  Perhaps  it  was 
with  her,  in  the  tumult  of  longing, 
as  Fenelon  says:  ''O  how  rare  it  is 
to  find  a  soul  still  enough  to  hear  God 
speak  !  "  Or  perhaps  the  Lord,  in  his 
wisdom,  chose  this  time  to  let  her  set 
her  own  lesson.  I  can  only  vouch  for 
the  dream  in  which  she  sat  at  tea,  and 
walked  along  the  street,  and  entered 
the  Opera  House;  glad  to  get  out 
into  the  starlight,  almost  awe-struck 


6o         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

to    find    herself  at    last   within   those 
walls. 

The  rehearsal  was  very  ''undress" 
indeed.  The  house,  not  half  lighted, 
had  yet  fewer  spectators  than  jets  of 
gas, — a  handful  of  shadowy  figures,  hid 
away  by  twos  and  threes  in  the  dim 
boxes;  which  were  almost  too  dark 
for  the  reading  of  libretti.  However 
eyes  were  young,  and  the  party  put 
their  heads  together  and  began  to 
study  out  the  coming  opera,  and  so 
get  a  taste  of  the  pleasure  before- 
hand. Until  — Well,  as  I  said,  Mir- 
iam was  young  .and  ignorant  of  the 
world,  but  a  woman's  instincts  (if 
they  have  not  been  tampered  with) 
outgrow  her  years  and  are  independ- 
ent of  her  experience.  And  as  the 
girl  bent  over  the  libretto,  some  of 
these  instincts  took  fright.     She  found 


THEATRES.  6 1 

out  suddenly  that  those  small  pages 
were  not  just  the  reading  she  liked,  with 
a  gentleman  looking  over  her  shoul- 
der; and  instantly  sat  back,  leaving 
the  rest  to  their  studies,  and  read  not 
another  word  that  night.  She  kept 
still,  waiting  for  the  music, — and  then 
the  music  began. 

You  who  see  such  places  only  with 
all  the  conjuring  power  of  light  and 
dress  upon  them,  have  no  idea  how 
they  look  when  things  are  transformed 
back  again,  and  Cinderella  has  lost  her 
glass  slippers,  and  the  coach  is  a  pump- 
kin, and  the  coachman  is  a  rat.  This 
night  the  actors  came  on  the  stage  in 
more — or  less — than  ordinary  dress;  as 
men  look  when  they  have  put  on  their 
dowdiest,  for  bad  weather  or  dirty  work: 
and  these  men -wore  their  hats.  Only 
the  young  Prima  Donna  was  bare-head- 


62  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

ed,  and  of  course  (being  a  woman)  had 
not  made  herself  a  fright.  "  Can  a  maid 
forget  her  ornaments  ?  "  And  this  just 
touched  off  the  effect  of  all  the  rest. 
But  the  music  ! — 

The  many  discords  and  melodies  of 
life  since  then  have  at  last  confused  in 
Miriam's  recollection  the  sounds  she 
listened  to  that  night;  but  for  years 
after  she  could  hear  them  almost  as 
distinctly  as  at  first;  and  the  picUire 
has  never  faded.  The  slim,  fair  girl; 
the  rough,  unwashed,  unkempt-look- 
ing men;  men  whom  (had  she  been 
your  sister)  you  would  not  have  let 
touch  her — as  we  say — ''with  a  pair 
of  tongs." 

The  play  went  on.  Perhaps  the  li- 
bretto had  given  an  uneasy  stir  to 
Miriam's  satisfaction,  for  as  she  sat 
now  entranced   with   the   music,  sud- 


THEATRES.  h^ 

denly  there  came  to  her  the  astound- 
ing revelation  that  this  young  girl  on 
the  stage,  was  singing  those  very  words 
which  the  other  young  girl  in  the  boxes 
had  not  quite  liked  to  read.  Singing 
them  at  the  top  of  her  sweet  voice, — 
trying  to  bring  them  out  distinctly  and 
with  full  effect.  It  was  only  a  queen, 
to  be  sure;  but  somehow  (missing  the 
royal  robes)  Miriam  could  see  only  a 
woman.  Close  upon  this  came  an- 
other shock.  These  dingy,  untidy, 
soiled-looking  men  were  now  making 
love  to  the  young  Prima  Donna, — 
first  one  and  then  another;  this  one 
in  bass,  and  that  one  in  baritone, 
and  she  answering  in  her  clear  so- 
prano. Answering,  —  sometimes  re- 
sponding. Then  they  touched  her, 
and  handled  her,  and  drew  her  about, 
as    the    exigencies    of   the    piece    de- 


64  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

manded.  And  there  was  no  glitter 
of  dress  to  turn  the  one  into  a  king- 
ly suitor  and  the  other  into  a  faithful 
knight;  the  tarnished  men  were  but 
men;  and  she — poor  little  uncrowned 
princess  —  was  but  a  woman  among 
them  all;  rubbing  off  the  bloom  and 
reserve  of  her  woman's  nature  with 
every   touch. 

Miriam  could  never  tell  how  sick 
hearted  she  grew  as  she  looked. 
That  was  this  girl's  livelihood;  to 
go  through  all  sorts  of  situations, 
with  all  sorts  of  men,  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  other  people.  O  yes,  it  paid 
well.  Had  she  been  a  teacher, — had 
she  painted  cups  or  stitched  seams  for 
a  living, — her  salary,  her  wages,  would 
have  been  brought  down  to  the  lowest 
figure;  but  on  the  stage,  at  that  work, 
give  her  what  she  asks  ! — or  make  her 


THEATRES.  65 

SO  popular  that  the  manager  will.  Does 
she  not  "  amuse  "  us  all  ? 

If  ever  anybody  was  thoroughly  cured 
of  theatre  going,  that  was  Miriam.  It 
had  been  the  greatest  temptation  of 
her  life;  but  now  a  great  recoil  came 
over  her,  so  that  from  that  day,  the 
mere  thought  of  the  stage  brought 
only  loathing  and  disgust.  And  so 
all  women,  as  women,  should  set  their 
faces  against  it  in  every  shape;  even 
down  to  the  most  ''private"  of  private 
theatricals.  There  cannot  possibly  be 
a  wholesome  imitation  of  a  bad  thing. 

I  know  it  is  very  unfashionable  doc- 
trine. I  know  that  even  while  I  write, 
the  newspapers  set  forth  an  advertise- 
ment of  a  play,  prepared  by  a  clergy- 
man, to  be  acted  by  Sunday  Schools 
in  this  sweet  Christmas  time.  Alas 
poor   Sunday  Schools  ! — in  full   train- 


66         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

ing  for  service  under  "the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil."  —  *' Feed  my 
lambs,"  the  Lord  Jesus  said,  —  and 
between  meals  you  give  them  whis- 
key and  water  !  Nor  is  it  the  chil- 
dren only  who  suffer.  I  could  tell  of 
one  lady  in  that  very  man's  church,  who 
being  much  delighted  with  some  such 
performance  in  the  Sunday  School,  went 
off  the  very  next  night  to  a  theatre,  to 
see  the  same  thing  done  better. 

N.  B. — She  had  never  been  before. 

'*I  will  have  dances  at  home  for 
my  children,  lest  they  seek  them  else- 
where."— 

"I  will  take  my  boys  to  the  theatre, 
because  I  do  not  want  them  to  go  any- 
where without  me." — 

Real  sayings,  of  real  mothers,  church 
members  both.  Which  sayings,  in  ev- 
eryday English,   read   thus,   ''Since  I 


THEATRES.  67 

want  my  children  to  keep  out  of  the 
world,  I  will  bring  the  world  to  them 
at  home." — ''Since  my  boys  will  do 
what  I  do  not  approve,  I  will  guard 
them  by  doing  it  too."  Far  different 
from  the  strong  stern-words  of  Script- 
ure: 

"Come  out  of  her,  my  people." 
''Touch  not  the  unclean  thing." 
And  then  the  wonderful  sayings  of 
Psalm  i.   I. 

If  anybody  thinks  I  have  given  an 
unfair  instance,  or  that  I  characterize 
it  unfairly,  let  them  take  other  testi- 
mony where  no  prejudice  can  be  sup- 
posed. Read  Mrs.  Kemble's  "Journal" 
of  her  stage  life.  Read  the  opinion  she 
gives  of  it  all  in  her  later  "Recollec- 
tions." Yet  from  childhood  some  of 
her  nearest  and  dearest  she  had  known 
as  actors. 


68         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

I  have  spoken  first  as  to  people 
bound  by  the  Golden  Rule,  and  for- 
bidden therefore  to  help  anybody  even 
to  get  a  living  in  an  evil  wa/.  For  the 
work  the  theatre  does  upon  yourselves, 
you  know  it,  if  you  will  be  honest.  Peo- 
ple answer:  ^'O  if  it  hurt  me,  of  course 
I  would  give  it  up."  Be  honest  with 
yourself,  and  you  will  come  out  of  that 
delusion.  You  know  it  does  not  make 
love  to  Christ  warmer,  or  thoughts  of 
heaven  sweeter;  or  the  atmosphere  of 
your  everyday  life  more  wholesome  and 
sound.  You  know  it  leaves  a  restless 
craving  for  excitement, — you  know  it 
exalts  the  world  before  your  eyes;  and 
if  you  think  a  little  you  will  find  that, 
like  my  poor  young  friend  in  her  dan- 
cing, you  are  not  edified,  not  built  up, 
but  pulled  down.  Let  me  tell  you  of 
one    case    where    the    mother   was    a 


THEATRES.  69 

Church  member,  and  had  prayers  reg- 
ularly every  morning  with  her  family. 
But  the  command  to  watch  as  well 
(/.  e.y  ''keep  awake")  she  had  forgot- 
ten. And  the  desire  seized  her  to  see 
— I  will  not  write  the  name  down  here, 
but  it  was  one  of  those  foreign  impor- 
tations which  have  beguiled  thousands. 
She  did  not  want  her  son  to  know  of 
her  going,  and  so  went  with  her  young 
daughter  for  escort  !  But  she  found 
her  son  already  there,  and  for  twenty- 
eight  nights  running  he  was  there  again. 
Why  not .'' — if  his  mother  went  once  } 
And  as  might  be  expected,  the  daugh- 
ter has  become  (as  people  say)  "wild 
for  the  theatre." 

Among  the  people  who  loved  Mr. 
Lincoln  best,  and  could  best  under- 
stand the  semi-official  way  in  which 
he    went    to    the    theatre    that    fatal 


70  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

night,  there  was  not  one,  I  fancy, 
who  did  not  feel  an  added  shock  at 
learning  where  he  was  when  the  mes- 
senger came,  and  who  did  not  wish 
that  he  had  been  almost  anywhere 
else.  Yet  why  ?  If  the  theatre  is  a 
proper  place  for  Christians  to  enter,  it 
is  as  good  a  place  as  any  other  to  be 

"Waiting — waiting — when  the  Lord 
shall  come." 

The  only  thing  I  think  of  mentioned 
in  the  Bible  that  is  much  like  modern 
performances  on  the  boards,  is  the  dan- 
cing of  the  daughter  of  Herodias  before 
Herod.  She  worked  for  hire,  she  be- 
guiled her  audience.  ''She  pleased  the 
king,"  and  got  from  him  all  she  asked 
for.  It  sounds  very  dreadful  to  you, 
no  doubt,  that  the  prophet's  head 
should  have  been  danced  off  by  a 
pair   of  whirling   feet  ? — but  that  is  a 


THEATRES.  7 1 

slight  matter.  If  dancing  and  thea- 
tre going  did  only  take  off  the  heads 
of  protesting  saints,  like  an  old-time 
persecution,  they  at  least  would  but 
exchange  the  prison  for  the  palace, 
and  so  not  lose  much.  But  this  steal- 
ing away  the  heart  and  service  once 
vowed  to  Christ,  is  another  matter. 
You  think  it  does  not  do  this.  You 
think  your  eye  is  as  clear  for  heaven 
in  the  boxes  as  elsewhere.  You  think 
you  can  dress  and  go  and  look  on  and 
listen,  keeping  close  to  this  command: 

**  Whatsoever  ye  do,  in  word  or  deed, 
do  all  in  the  nam^e  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

Do  you  think  so  } 

*'  I  have  never  been  to  hear  him," 
said  Dr.  Skinner,  speaking  then,  only 
of  a  false  prophet  in  a  false  Church, 
**  because  I  could  not  expect  to  meet 
my  Master  there;  and  I  will  go  nowhere 


72  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

for  pleasure  where  he  is  not."  What 
about  the  theatre,  tried  by  that  test  ? 

How  surely  the  world  marks  every 
Christian  who  is  seen  at  such  places; 
how  certainly  the  children  know  that 
the  parents  have  not  yet  forsaken  all 
for  Christ.  And  how  constantly  un- 
godly men  fence  off  your  warning,  with 

the  words:  "Look  at and ,  I 

am  as  good  as  they.  I  do  this  and 
that,  and  they  do  it  too.  I  don't  see 
the  difference." 

But  ''nobody  knows."  O  yes,  ev- 
erybody knows.  No  matter  if  you  are 
across  the  sea, — "  A  bird  of  the  air  shall 
carry  the  matter."  But  especially,  the 
Lord  knows.  He  setteth  ''a  print  on 
the  heels  of  my  feet"^ — and  step  you 
never  so  lightly,  the  mark  will  be  there, 
and  the  Lord  will  know. 

1  Job  xiii.  27. 


THEATRES.  73 

And  where  your  feet  go,  there  others 
will  follow.  ''Is  Miss  Hope  going  to 
such  and  such  a  performance  ? "  in- 
quired a  young  man  of  me.  I  said 
no.  He  stood  gravely  thinking,  and 
the  talk  drifted  on.  Then  suddenly  I 
heard  him  say — to  himself  as  it  were: 
— ''Then  I  will  not  go  either  !  " — 

Persuasions,  entreaties,  ridicule,  are 
nothing,  mean  nothing,  if  only  you 
stand  firm.  And  I  have  known  gen- 
tlemen spend  their  strength  in  en- 
treaties, and  then  when  the  lady  held 
out  in  her  quiet  refusal,  they  said 
afterwards  to  other  people  that  they 
liked  to  see  any  one  true  to  his  prin- 
ciples. 

Staying  once  with  some  friends  of 
rather  free  opinions  and  practice,  Pris- 
cilla  was  beset  to  go  with  them  on  a 
certain  evening  to  the  theatre.    So  eag- 


74  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

er  were  the  words,  so  well-loved  the 
friends,  that  at  last  she  grew  desperate. 
Turning'  round  upon  the  head  of  the 
house,  she  said:  *' Do  you  really  want 
me  to  go  ? " — He  looked  at  her,  sat 
back  in  his  chair  in  silence,  then  an- 
swered soberly:  ''Well,  I  guess  I'd  just 
as  lieve  you  didn't  !  " 

Depend  upon  it,  the  very  people  who 
press  you  hardest,  professing  to  see  "no 
harm,"  will  feel  they  have  lost  some- 
thing if  you  make  them  think  the  King's 
Country  is  just  like  their  own.  What- 
ever has  happened  to  j/ozir  mordil  sense, 
i/iej/  know  that  the  theatre  is  no  place 
for  a  true-hearted  servant  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  if  the  Master  is  all  he  is  repre- 
sented to  be.  If  they  met  you  there 
unawares,  it  would  be  with  a  thrill  not 
of  pleasure  but  of  pain. 

Let  me  repeat  my  question,  Is  it  as 


THEATRES.  75 

a  Christian  you  go  to  the  theatre  ?  can 
you  go  and  keep  your  armour  bright  ? 
does  the  helmet  of  salvation  rest  se- 
curely on  your  head  ?  Is  the  girdle 
of  truth, — truth  of  life,  purpose,  and 
heart, — fast  bound  ?  the  breastplate  of 
righteousness  burnished,  the  shield  of 
faith  ready  against  every  dart  that  may 
fly  in  that  great  building  ?  Are  they 
the  shoes  of  peace  on  which  you  go 
in  ?  not  pleasure,  but  peace  f  Is  it  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  with  which  you  meet 
and  parry  the  thrusts  of  idleness,  folly, 
mischief?  Ah  you  know  better  !  When 
you  go  to  the  theatre  these  defences 
are  left  at  home,  as  not  fit  for  the  oc- 
casion. The  house  is  built  and  man- 
aged and  filled  in  the  interests  of  the 
enemy;  and  of  course  your  uniform  is 
out  of  place.  Tired  Church  members, 
do  you  go  there  for  restf 


©ames. 


T~\R.  SKINNERS  used  to  say  that 
all  games  of  chance  were  un- 
lawful. For  inasmuch  as  there  is  no 
chance  in  the  economy  of  this  world, 
all  use  of  dice  or  lottery  in  any  shape 
is  really  an  appeal  to  him  of  whom  it  is 
said: 

''The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap,  but  the 
whole  disposing  thereof  is  of  the  Lord.'"" 

And  you  will  agree  with  me  that 
this  is  not  a  thing  to  be  done  lightly. 

In  old  times  the  casting  of  a  lot  was 
a  solemn  religious  service:  ushered  in 
even  among  pagans  with  prayer  and 

1  Once  pastor  of  the  Mercer  Street  Church,  New  York,  and 
Professor  in  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

2  Prov.  xvi.  33. 


GAMES.  77 

often  with  fasting;  but  what  careless, 
reckless  ignoring  of  God  as  the  Gov- 
ernor among  the  nations,  is  there  in 
all  connected  with  the  lot  in  our  days. 
What  foul  associations  cloud  and  wrap 
up  almost  every  game  of  chance:  how 
soiled  are  the  cards,  how  unhallowed 
the  rattle  of  the  dice.  What  degrad- 
ing, debasing  work  is  done  by  every 
species  of  lottery;  what  desperate  evils 
spring  up  and  grow  out  of  "a  chance" 
at  a  Church  fair !  Some  years  ago,  at 
the  time  of  the  great  German  and  French 
fairs  in  New  York,  a  lady  thoughtlessly 
gave  her  young  son  leave  to  buy  "a 
chance  "  for  a  gold  watch.  Thought- 
lessly,— it  was  just  a  dollar  to  the  fair 
and  an  amusement  to  the  boy.  And 
before  twenty-four  hours  had  passed, 
she  would  have  given  anything  in  the 
world  to  recall  her  permission.     For  at 


78  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

once  the  boy's  mind  became  wholly  ab- 
sorbed in  his  "chance."  The  fair  went 
on,  the  drawing  was  long  delayed;  and 
day  after  day — hour  by  hour,  if  he  could 
— he  went  to  inquire  and  to  watch;  and 
the  mother  saw  her  child  in  a  true  gam- 
bling fever,  and  she  obliged  to  let  it 
run  its  course.  Mercifully,  as  she  said, 
the  watch  fell  to  another.  ''If  it  had 
come  to  George,  I  don't  know  what  in 
the  world  I  should  have  done." 

"  We  play  for  sugarplums," — we  ''toss 
up "  for  nuts ;  but  each  time  the  evil 
seeds  are  planted.  The  mere  habit  of 
/^//^2//^  of  "  chance,"  of  "  luck,"  of  "  fate," 
as  if  you  believed  in  them  all,  tends  di- 
rectly to  weaken  your  realizing  trust 
in  the  Great  Ruler  of  the  world;  who 
counts  his  sparrows,  and  numbers  the 
hairs  of  your  head.  Chance  )  If  the 
watchmaker    could    not    control    one 


GAMES.  79 

smallest  wheel  or  point  in  his  watch; 
if  even  a  grain  of  dust  got  in  and  de- 
fied him;  what  think  you  he  could  do 
withi  mainspring  and  hands  ?  One  un- 
manageable atom  would  stop  the  whole. 

To  quote  Dr.  Skinner  again, — one  to 
whom  I  think  it  never  occurred  to  like 
anything  but  what  God  liked, — in  his 
early  life  as  a  young  man  he  had  seen 
much  wild  company;  and  so  strong  was 
their  association  with  evil,  that  to  the 
end  of  his  life  he  could  never  even  hear 
the  dice  fall  without  a  shiver. 

**Put  it  away,  my  dear,"  he  would 
say  of  even  the  backgammon  board. 
'*I  don't  like  it— I  don't  like  it  !" 

For  games  of  chance,  as  a  rule, 
gather  round  them  a  setting  of  sin 
and  sorrow  which  other  games  do 
not.  I  suppose  men  take  in  their 
practical  infidelity,  and  grow  lawless. 


8o  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

You  do  not  mean  to  appeal  to  God 
in  your  games  of  *' chance," — but  if 
not  to  him,  then  to  some  other  power 
supposed  to  be  outside  his  rule  or  be- 
yond his  notice:  *' chance,"  ''luck,"  or 
the  devil.  And  it  does  not  much  mat- 
ter which  word  you  use.  Yet  "tired" 
Church  members  will  play  euchre  and 
whist,  and  there  are  cards  in  the  table 
drawer  in  the  parlour,  and  of  course  a 
dingier  pack  in  the  kitchen,  in  many 
a  so-called  Christian  house;  though 
the  family  hide  them  or  apologize  be- 
fore people  who  are  called  "intense." 
The  minister  comes  in  upon  a  card 
party  in  his  parish,  and  all  rise  in 
deprecatory  confusion ;  and  perhaps 
(ah  I  know  it  happened  in  one  case) 
the  minister  waves  his  hand  gracious- 
ly, with  a  "Don't  let  me  disturb  you," 
—and  so  passes  on.     O  it  hurts  one  to 


GAMES.  8 1 

have  a  fellow  Christian  ask  in  the  quiet 
evening  at  her  own  house,  ''Would  you 
object  to  our  bringing  out  the  cards?" 
— "I  could  not  touch  them,"  was  all 
the  answer,  and  the  drawer  stayed 
shut.  But  I  wish  a  Nonconformist 
Church  could  rise  up  in  these  days. 
We  are  so  busy  calling  ourselves 
Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Presbyte- 
rians, that  we  seem  to  forget  the 
old  far-better  name  which  should  in- 
clude all.  In  the  war  it  was  only 
loyal  or  disloyal:  and  New  York  was 
proud  of  the  Wisconsin  boys  that 
were  all  six  feet  two;  and  Ohio  wept 
for  those  of  Massachusetts  who  were 
among  the  first  to  shed  their  blood. 
Dear  friends,  it  is  war  time  now:  if 
you  could  only  realize  that,  a  good 
many  things  would  be  set  straight. 
Not  able  to  give  up  doubtful   games 


82  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

and  questionable  dances  ?  Why  In  '']6 
the  women  fired  at  their  tea  kettles  ! — 

Nonconformists.  But  now,  *'  My 
mother  does  it," — ''my  aunt  goes," 
— "my  father  likes  it":  so  run  the 
excuses  which  the  members  of  your 
Bible  Class,  children  of  Church  mem- 
bers, fling  in  your  face. 

But  what  you  call  "lawful"  games, 
are  stupid.  Not  all  of  them,  perhaps; 
but  if  they  were,  that  would  not  touch 
the  question.  Paul's  "If  meat  make 
my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no 
flesh  while  the  world  standeth,"  was 
crippled  with  no  such  condition  as  "If 
I  can  get  bread."  And  when  the  Lord 
bade  us  cut  off  the  offending  right  hand, 
no  question  of  whether  we  could  live 
without  it  came  in.  It  is  not  abso- 
lutely needful  that  Christ  should  find 
all  his  tired  Church   members   rested 


GAMES.  83 

and  fresh;  but  it  is  necessary  that 
they  should  be  '' spotless,"  "faithful," 
''ready,"  when  he  comes. 

There  are  other  amusements  that 
might  be  touched  upon  just  here,  but 
perhaps  they  are  as  well  not  named. 
Whatever  takes  you  full  into  the  ranks 
of  Christ's  enemies,  not  to  fight  but 
to  follow  them;  whatever  you  cannot 
do  straight  through  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus;  whatever  turns  you  away 
from  the  shining  presence  of  his  face; 
is  unlawful  for  you.  Once  remember 
that  there  is  no  middle  ground,  and 
then  ask  yourself  what  standing  room 
there  can  be  for  you  on  a  race  course, 
what  seat  at  a  circus.  If  you  are  not 
with  Christ,  openly,  unmistakably,  you 
are  ''scattering,"  even  in  your  games. 
I  asked  a  friend  (a  minister  of  deep  ex- 
perience) lately,  if  he  had  seen  much  of 


84  TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

this  private  card  playing  among  Church 
members  ?  He  answered,  *'  Yes,  a  great 
deal."  Then  I  inquired  what  was  the 
effect,  as  he  had  noticed  it.  And  the 
reply  was  instant  and  emphatic: 

^^ Always  evil !  " — 

Carlyle  tells  of  ''patriots'*  in  the 
French  Revolution  who  shaved  each 
other  out  of  the  fragments  of  bomb 
shells,  and  wore  ghastly  trophies  from 
the  guillotine.  But  short  of  a  Reign 
of  Terror,  making  all  men  mad,  one 
does  not  expect  such  things.  Few  peo- 
ple (I  fancy)  if  they  knew  it,  would  care 
to  use  the  glass  from  which  some  poor 
wretch  had  drunk  his  draught  of  poi- 
son; and  even  to  touch  the  murderer's 
knife  stored  up  in  a  public  museum, 
would  turn  most  hearts  sick.  But  if 
you  could  only  see  as  God  sees;  if 
things  in  society  were  but  labelled  and 


GAMES.  85 

classed;  you  would  find  your  cards  dark 
with  the  soul-life  blood  of  thousands, 
and  could  hear  their  ruin  in  every  fall 
of  the  dice. 

I  was  much  interested  in  a  recent 
English  essay  (''On  the  Criminal  Code 
of  the  Jews")  to  find  how  the  typical 
Israel  regarded  games  of  chance.  As 
if  something  of  the  old  blessed  "  The 
Lord  is  our  King,"  staid  by  them,  even 
in  the  days  of  their  downfall.  The 
writer  says: 

''All  who  made  money  by  dice-play- 
ing or  any  games  of  hazard,  by  betting 
on  pigeon  matches  and  similar  objec- 
tionable practices,  were  not  only  inca- 
pable of  becoming  members  of  a  tribu- 
nal, but  were  not  permitted  to  give 
evidence.  The  Ghemara  regards  a 
man  who  gains  money  by  the  amuse- 
ments named,  as  dishonest." 


;}}at  ?Left? 


T)UT  you  will  say,  I  leave  nothing 
for  you,  then;  no  amusements, 
no  recreation.  Is  that  true  ?  Is  the 
narrow  way  indeed  so  barren,  that  we 
must  step  out  of  it  to  rest  ?  Has  the 
Lord  only  food  and  water  for  his  flock, 
and  when  they  need  change  and  re- 
freshment must  they  leave  their  Shep- 
herd, and  go  over  to  the  wolf  for  a  run 
upon  the  hillside  ?  That  sounds  hard 
for  weak  human  nature — and  strange, 
for  a  Lord  of  boundless  resources. 
And  somehow  the  Bible  pictures  of 
the  flock  shew  wondrous  contentment. 
"A  stranger  will  they  not  follow."* 

1  John  X.  5. 


WHAT  LEFT?  87 

Then  following  the  Master  must  be 
very  sweet;  for  all  men  like  variety, 
and  the  mere  fact  of  a  new  voice  is 
of  itself  enough  to  draw  one  aside. 
Yet  *'a  stranger  will  they  not  fol- 
low, but  will  flee  from  him," — O  how 
much  that  tells  !  And  here  we  touch 
the  very  root  and  spring  of  true  re- 
freshment, of  real  recreation.  For 
while  good  general  health  is  the  best 
specific  against  mere  bodily  fatigue,  so 
against  a  jaded,  over-wrought  state  of 
nerves  and  energies,  there  is  nothing 
like  a  heart  full  of  joy  and  a  mind  at 
rest. 

"He  that  believeth  on  me  shall  nev- 
er thirst."^ 

And  if  this  satisfaction  does  not  un- 
derlie all  your  pastimes,  they  will  be 
a  failure.     No  other  stream  alone  can 

1  John  vi.  35. 


88  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

freshen  even  the  small  dry  barrens  of 
this  earth. 

But  besides  that,  what  is  there  left 
for  Christian  people  ? 

To  begin:  ''Dancing  is  such  good 
exercise  !  "  people  say.  Granted.  Or 
at  least  it  might  be.  But  instead  of 
night  hours  in  a  ball  room,  get  on 
horseback  for  two  hours  in  the  open 
day,  and  then  balance  the  profit  and 
loss.  You  don't  know  how }  —  then 
learn.  You  have  no  horse  t  Go  to 
riding  school.  An  hour  in  the  ring 
will  stir  your  blood. better  than  twenty 
Germans.  But  you  "cannot  afford"  to 
take  riding  lessons. — Well  to  say  noth- 
ing of  ball  dresses,  just  throw  satin  slip- 
pers and  long  gloves  and  carriage  hire 
together,  and  see  if  you  cannot  afford 
it.  Ay,  and  have  a  ticket  now  and 
then  for  some  one  poorer  than  yourself 


WHAT  LEFT?  89 

Then  for  people  who  live  within 
reach  of  the  opera,  there  is  generally 
much  other  good  music  to  be  had,  at 
far  less  expense  and  with  none  of 
the  objections.  And  there  again,  the 
money  and  time  spent  at  the  opera, 
would  train  the  voices  at  home  into  a 
lovely  choir.  Voices  which  now  ''have 
no  time,"  and  talents  perhaps  unknown. 

''Everybody  cannot  sing."  —  No. 
And  neither  can  everybody  paint; 
but  it  is  a  delicious  pleasure  to  those 
who  can.  What  joy  to  go  sketching ! 
what  delight  to  work  up  the  sketches 
at  home.  What  pure,  noiseless,  ex- 
quisite play  it  is.  And  if  some  of  the 
party  care  nothing  for  pencils,  let  them 
lie  under  a  tree  with  a  book,  and  be 
part  of  your  picture. 

"Ah,  books! — Of  course  you  disap- 
prove of  novels," — some  one  exclaims. 


90         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

Indeed  no.  A  good  novel  is  very 
improving  as  well  as  refreshing.  And 
after  much  study  over  that  word  "good  " 
(that  is,  for  us,  worth  reading)  I  can  give 
no  better  meaning  than  this.  A  good 
book,  whether  novel  or  other,  is  one 
which  leaves  you  further  on  than  it 
took  you  up.  If  when  you  drop  it,  it 
drops  you,  right  down  in  the  same  old 
spot;  with  no  finer  outlook,  no  cleared 
vision,  no  stimulated  desires,  it  is  in  no 
sense  a  good  book  for  you.  As  well 
make  fancy  loaves  of  sawdust,  and  la- 
bel them  '' Good  Bread ";  and  claim  that 
you  rise  from  the  banquet  refreshed. 

A  novel  has  special  power  of  its 
own.  It  may  be  deeply  historical,  like 
**Waverly,"  and  "The  Tale  of  Two 
Cities."  It  may  be  a  picture  of  viv- 
id local  colouring,  like  "Ivanhoe,"  or 
"Lorna    Doone,"    or    "Dr.    Antonio." 


WHAT  LEFT?  9 1 

It  may  be  full  of  social  hints  and 
glimpses,  with  many  a  covert  wise  sug- 
gestion, like  Miss  Austin's  ''Emma." 
It  may  shew  up  a  vital  truth  or  a 
life-long  mistake,  like  Miss  Edge- 
worth's  "Helen,"  or  open  out  new 
natural  scenes  like  the  "Adventures 
of  a  Phaeton";  or  life  scenes,  like 
"Oliver  Twist";  or  be  so  full  of  frol- 
ic and  fun  and  sharp  common  sense, 
that  the  mere  laughter  of  it  does 
you  good  "like  a  medicine."  Wit- 
ness "Christie  Johnstone,"  and  Miss 
Carlen's  "John."  All  such  books  are 
utterly  helpful,  and  leave  you  well 
in  advance  of  where  they  found  you. 
They  enlarge  your  world,  they  stim- 
ulate your  life.  Only  read  none  that 
enlarge  it  by  a  peep  through  the  gates 
of  hell.  On  that  side  knowledge  is 
death. 


92  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

But  how  is  one  to  tell  ?  you  ask. 
Books  are  not  labelled  "good,"  "bad," 
and  "indifferent."  No:  and  Avhen  you 
go  to  shops  and  houses  you  do  not 
know  what  air  you  will  find,  perhaps 
not  till  you  open  the  door.  But  you 
start  back  from  one  room,  and  hold 
your  breath  in  another,  hastening  to 
get  away;  not  because  you  have  stud- 
ied chemistry  and  can  analyze  the  air, 
but  because  your  keen  physical  sense 
is  smitten.  Keep  your  moral  sense  as 
fresh,  as  keen;  and  the  moment  you 
find  foul  air  in  a  book,  throw  the  book 
in  the  fire.  Do  not  leave  it  about  to 
poison  some  one  else.  And  if  you  find 
no  wholesome  stir,  no  real  refreshment, 
but  only  a  feverish  thirst  beginning,  lay 
the  book  down:  remember,  you  are  after 
recreation. 

Re-creation, — the  remaking  and  re- 


WHAT  LEFT?  93 

fitting  of  ourselves  for  better  work,  the 
resting  for  more  labour,  the  learning, 
that  we  may  grow  thereby.  That  is 
what  you  profess  to  need,  dear  fellow 
Christians.  Then  seek  it, — and  take 
no  makebelieve. 

"Nothing  left.?"  — Why  the  world 
is  so  full  of  delightful  things  to  do, 
that  one  can  but  look  at  a  quarter  of 
them.  They  stand  at  my  elbow  ten 
deep.  Books  and  music,  and  paint- 
ing, and  riding,  and  gardening,  with 
all  sorts  of  studies  of  the  wonderful 
works  of  God.  You  are  not  shut  up 
to  novels.  Books  of  art,  books  of 
travel,  books  of  poetry,  books  of  sci- 
ence. O  how  I  have  rested  in  the 
coolness  of  Longfellow's  "Cathedral"; 
and  with  what  delight  seen  Alpine 
heights  with  Ruskin. 

Then  there  is  that  wonder  of  refresh- 


94  TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

ment,  the  stereoscope.  One  comes  back 
from  a  half  hour  there  in  a  Swiss  valley 
as  into  a  new  world,  with  the  dust  all 
blown  away.  A  stereoscope  costs  lit- 
tle, and  views  are  not  expensive, — that 
is  if  you  are  content  with  one  or  two 
at  a  time,  which  is  the  real  way  to  buy 
them;  choosing,  considering,  carefully 
selecting  only  those  you  cannot  possi- 
bly go  home  without  !  I  know  we  be- 
gan with  six;  those  six  sorted  out  with 
jealous  care  from  the  contents  of  many 
boxes;  and  by  ones  and  twos  the  little 
collection  has  grown  into  something 
worth  having.  And  if  you  turn  over 
every  lot  of  views  you  come  across, 
you  will  often  find  one  rare  and  fine  and 
cheap,  thrown  in  among  the  rubbish. 

Then  there  is  the  microscope, — full 
of  rich  pleasure  and  deep  study  and 
wonderful  revealings.     And  here  again 


WHAT  LEFT?  95 

no  great  outlay  is  needed.  The  days 
of  only  sixty  dollar  glasses  are  quite 
gone  by,  and  for  five  or  ten  dollars — 
even  less — you  can  get  a  microscope 
that  will  keep  ahead  of  you  for  some 
time  to  come. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  one  has  neither 
the  skill  nor  the  means  to  furnish  a 
home-made  telescope,  there  are  other 
ways  of  studying  the  stars,  from  the 
days  of  Ferguson  down.  You  remem- 
ber he  used  to  measure  the  distance 
from  star  to  star  with  beads  upon  a 
string.  I  have  seen  a  man  who  could 
neither  read  nor  write,  and  yet  could 
tell  by  the  stars  the  hour  at  any  time 
of  night;  and  it  is  a  shame  that  we 
educated  people  who  know  so  much, 
should  also  know  so  little. 

If  you  are  in  the  country,  and  fond 
of   ''stones,"   get    a   geologist's   ham- 


^6         TIRED   CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

mer,  and  Hugh  Miller's  books,  and 
give  yourself  up  to  happiness.  Or  if 
you  like  flowers,  study  them;  learn- 
ing to  know  families  and  sub-families 
through  all  the  floral  peerage. 

But  perhaps  you  *'do  not  care  for 
out-door  things  ?  "  Then  get  a  bit  of 
wood  and  a  few  carving  tools,  and  see 
what  dainty  wonders  you  can  make  at 
home.  Or  lose  your  cares  in  ''illumi- 
nating"; or  bury  them  fathom  deep  in 
German.  From  any  of  these,  well  be- 
gun and  carried  on,  you  will  come  back 
re-created  for  your  work :  made  over 
''as  good  as  new."  Not  poisoned  with 
bad  air,  nor  wearied  by  late  hours;  not 
singed  and  jaded  with  chagrin,  vanity, 
and  disappointment.  Riding,  rowing, 
archery,  fishing,  ought  to  give  Christian 
people  enough  exercise,  without  their 
being  obliged  to  frequent  ball  rooms  to 


WHAT  LEFT?  97 

find  it;  and  as  for  the  ''grace"  people 
talk  of,  nothing  teaches  that  like  a 
heart  full  of  graces — "love,  joy,  peace," 
and  the  rest.  Do  they  flourish  at  your 
doubtful  entertainments  ?  do  they  not 
rather  droop  and  hang  their  heads,  like 
the  dear  flowers  in  your  bouquet  ? 

And  if  people  sought  their  refresh- 
ment among  all  those  sweet  and  whole- 
some things,  conversation  would  no 
longer  be  the  difficult  and  the  dry 
thing  it  is  in  many  a  company.  There 
would  be  something  to  talk  about  worth 
talking  of;  and  men  of  sense  would  ven- 
ture to  talk  sense,  even  to  women;  and 
gossip  would  go  down.  How  much 
more  interesting  is  a  butterfly,  than  the 
curtains  of  the  house  across  the  way ! — 

The  world  is  full  of  joys  and  pleas- 
ures and  wonders,  even  yet,  outside  of 
Eden,     So  full  that  as  I  said,  you  can 


98         TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

only  begin  to  taste  them  all,  in  all 
your  life.  I  think  it  is  stated  that  no 
ordinary  life-term  would  suffice  for  the 
thorough  study  of  merely  the  great  fam- 
ily of  orchids.  And  all  these  things 
which  I  have  named  (the  list  is  really 
much  longer),  yes,  every  one  of  them, 
rightly  used,  will  ennoble  you,  and  build 
you  up,  and  refresh  you,  with  every 
time  of  using.  Not  like  the  snail 
which  crawled  up  three  feet  every 
day  and  fell  back  two  feet  every 
night:  onward  and  upward  shall  be 
your  course;  with  soul  and  body  and 
mind  re-created,  restored  by  right 
means,  to  right  ends.  Only  make 
one  rule  to  yourself:  where  any- 
thing is   doubtful,   let  it  alone. 

If  you  tell  me  I  do  not  know  the 
fascination  of  these  other  things,  I 
tell  you   that  I  do;   and   in   one   line 


WHAT  LEFT?  99 

at  least  have  known  it  as  deeply  as 
any  one  could.  But  I  have  also  known, 
that  with  the  coming  of  Christ  into 
my  heart,  with  the  new  knowledge  of 
his  presence,  the  old  taste  fell  dead 
in  a  moment,  and  never  arose  again. 
I  cannot  say  it  was  not  much  to  give 
up,  for  it  was  nothing.  The  former  fas- 
cination fell  off,  like  the  dry  skin  of  a 
chrysalis  when  the  butterfly  spreads  its 
wings.  And  here  we  reach  the  very 
point  of  the  whole  difficulty.  For  with 
all  their  crosses,  privations,  and  givings- 
up,  the  Lord's  people  are  not  meant 
to  dwell  in  any  land  of  darkness  or  of 
drought.  Listen  to  some  of  the  prom- 
ises. 

"The  righteous  shall  hold  on  his 
way,  and  he  that  hath  clean  hands 
shall  be  stronger  and  stronger."^ 

1  Job  xvii.  9. 


lOO       TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

"They  go  from  strength  to  strength."  ^ 

**  They  that  wait  on  the  Lord  shall 
renew  their  strength.'"^ 

For  why  ? 

*'For  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your 
strength."  ^ 

I  believe  the  words  are  true  for  the 
body  as  for  the  mind.  It  is  nowhere 
promised  that  yqu  shall  not  be  tired; 
but  so  waiting,  so  living,  so  abiding  by 
the  head  waters  of  all  strength,  the 
most  lovely,  fresh,  ever-renewed  life 
shall  be  yours. 

''The  righteous  shall  flourish  like 
the  palm  tree."* 

''Their  souls  shall  be  as  a  watered 
garden."^ 

It  is  the  man  "whose  delight  is  in 
the  law  of  the  Lord"  who   not   only 

1  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  7.  2  Isa.  xl.  31.  3  Neh.  viii.  10. 

4  Ps.  xcii.  12.  5  Jer.  xxxi.  12. 


IVI/AT  LEFT?  lOI 

''bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  sea- 
son," but  also  when  the  time  for  fresh- 
ness and  Hfe  and  growth  seems  over, 

"  They  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in 
old  age."^ 

Not  only  "created  in  Christ  Jesus 
unto  good  works,"  but  perpetually  re- 
created in  him,  from  hour  to  hour,  from 
year  to  year.  Has  he  not  said:  "I  will 
be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel"?^  No  more 
age  for  them,  thus  dwelling  in  "the 
power  of  an  endless  life  "  ;  ^  no  empty 
hands,  for  those  who  "have  all  things, 
and  abound."*  No  disgust  of  life  or 
hopelessness  of  labour  for  servants 
who  every  now  and  then — from  the 
midst  of  their  work — follow  the  Mas- 
ter (but  only  him)  "apart  to  rest 
awhile,"^   "A   stranger  will   they  not 

1  Ps.  xcii.  14.  2  Hosea  xiv.  5.  3  Heb.  vii.  16. 

4  Phil,  iv.  18.  6  Mark  vi.  31. 


102       TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

follow."  You  have  seen  such  people; 
you  may  see  them  every  now  and 
then;  with  smooth  brows  and  sweet 
faces  and  eyes  full  of  the  peace  of 
God. 

''And  I  said,  This  is  the  rest,  and 
this  is  the  refreshing."* 

I  am  persuaded,  that  without  this, 
all  forms  of  recreation  that  can  be 
tried  will  be  but  as  quack  medicines, 
giving  a  temporary  relief,  only  to  be 
followed  by  a  sorer  need.  And  while 
there  are  a  hundred  lawful,  sweet, 
wholesome  means  of  rest  at  our  dis- 
posal, I  believe  that  even  they  will 
fail  if  used  alone.  And  if  you  throw 
in  all  unlawful  pleasures  also,  the  fail- 
ure will  but  be  the  more  complete, 
"All  my  springs  are  in  thee,"^  and 
these   other   things   are   but   channels 

1  Isa.  xxviii.  12.  2  Ps.  Ixxxvii.  7. 


WHAT  LEFT?  1 03 

through  which  may  flow  the  loving 
kindness  of  the  Lord.  From  him 
comes  all  your  skill  to  study,  your 
power  to  sing:  the  ingenious  fancy, 
the  quick  intellect,  the  deft  hand, 
are  all  his  gift.  In  this  exquisite 
world  of  his  wherein  you  work,  his 
power,  his  care,  his  laws  are  around 
you  as  surely  when  you  play  as  when 
you  work.  So  that  you  can  walk  with 
Christ  always,  as  you  are  meant  to  do; 
looking  up  to  him  from  relaxation  as 
from  labour,  thus  missing  the  intoxi- 
cation of  the  one  and  forgetting  the 
toil   of  the   other. 

Now  whatever  lawful  things  such  a 
disciple  may  "amuse"  himself  with, 
you  can  see  at  once  that  for  even 
the  doubtful  he  could  have  no  relish; 
counting  them  but  as  a  draught  from 
that  "troubled  sea  whose  waters  cast 


104        TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

Up  mire  and  dirt."^  Neither  would  he 
come  to  his  recreations  tired  of  life, 
nor  because  his  daily  round  had  turned 
to  ''white  of  egg";  ^  but  with  genuine, 
honest  fatigue,  taking  amusement  as 
he  takes  sleep,  and  going  back  from 
it  with  a  joyous  rebound  to  his  special 
weedy  corner  in  the  vineyard. 

*'I  know  I  am  getting  rested,"  I 
heard  a  minister  once  say  in  his  va- 
cation, ''for  I  am  getting  hungry  for 
my  work  !  " 

"My  people  have  forgotten  their 
resting  place"  —  let  it  not  ever  be 
said  of  you  and,  me. 

But  it  is  those  not  merely  "planted 
in  the  courts  of  the  Lord,"  but  who 
"flourish"  there,  that  are  the  trees 
whose  "leaf  shall  not  wither";  and 
in    this    you    have    the    whole    story. 

1  Isa.  Ivii.  20.  2  Job  vi.  6. 


WHAT  LEFT?  1 05 

A  Christian  who  is  flomdshing  where 
he  belongs,  will  never  go  where  he 
does  not  belong.  And  no  one  who 
is  dwelling  daily  in  the  clear  sun- 
shine of  Christ's  presence,  will  need 
a  dance  to  enliven  him,  or  a  horse 
race — or  a  walking  match  —  to  keep 
up  his  interest  in  life.  There  will  be 
**  melody  in  his  heart "  without  the 
opera;  and  life  will  be  full  and  bright 
and  strong,  without  a  speck  of  tin- 
sel pleasure.  Work  will  be  sweet,  and 
play  will  be  joyous;  and  by  one  and 
by  the  other  the  man  will  grozu — 
''Grow,  like  the  cedar  in  Lebanon." 
Now  that  you  may  prove  all  this, 
that  you  may  begin  right,  be  careful 
to  take  the  full  good  of  all  the  or- 
dered resting  times:  to  wit,  the  Sun- 
days. I  wish  all  tired  people  did  but 
know  the  infinite  rest  there  is  in  fen- 


I06       TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

cing  off  the  six  days  from  the  seventh. 
In  anchoring  the  business  ships  of  your 
daily  life  as  the  Saturday  draws  to  its 
close,  leaving  them  to  ride  peacefully 
upon  the  flow  or  the  ebb  until  Monday 
morning  comes  again.  O  the  delight, 
the  lull,  of  feeling:  "No  need  to  settle 
this  question — no  need  to  think  of  this 
piece  of  work — for  a  whole  long,  sweet 
thirty-six  hours  !  "  Why  do  you  take 
Sunday  papers,  to  keep  your  nerves 
astir  with  business  on  the  Lord's  own 
day  of  rest  ?  Why  do  you  add  up  and 
consult  and  consider  in  the  pauses  of 
the  sermon,  or  make  opportunity  for 
a  business  whisper  in  the  porch,  and 
on  the  way  home  ?  Why  do  you 
let  the  perplexities  of  servants,  of 
means,  of  plans,  ruffle  your  spirits  on 
the  one  great  day  of  freedom  ?  Do 
not  you  know  that  even  a  debtor  may 


WHAT  LEFT?  1 07 

walk  abroad  on  Sunday,  with  no  fear 
of  a  prison;  and  house  doors  may  stand 
open,  and  no  sheriff  can  enter.  Shall 
it  be  worse  with  your  mind  than  with 
your  body? 

"Sleep,  sleep  to-day,  tormenting  cares, 
Of  earth  and  folly  born," — 

It  is  the  high  court  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace. 

"Rest  on  Sunday!" — I  hear  some 
earnest  worker  cry.  "Why  Sunday 
is  the  hardest   of  all   the  week  !  " 

Yes,  in  a  way  that  is  true,  for  work- 
ers in  the  Lord's  work.  Yet  as  far 
as  possible  do  not  make  it  so.  Do 
not  imagine  that  you  have  the  whole 
world  on  your  shoulders:  do  not  try 
to  have.  Do  not  lift  up  a  burden  you 
can  by  no  means  bear.  The  messen- 
gers came  back  to  the  Lord  with  their 
reports, — so  you. 


I08        TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

''Lord,  they  will  not  hear — " 

''Lord,  it  is  done." — 

Work  with  your  whole  heart  and 
strength;  but  then  take  work  and 
class,  and  lay  them  at  the  Lord's 
feet;  and  with  them  the  tired  worker 
too.  So  doing  your  work  peacefully. 
And  if  Monday  morning  finds  you  tired, 
it  will  find  you  also  rested.  The  air  of 
the  world  will  have  cleared  somewhat, 
giving  a  nearer  view  of  "the  city";  its 
mountains  will  have  sunk  down  well 
nigh  out  of  sight,  before  the  everlast- 
ing hills  to  which  you  may  lift  up  your 
eyes  for  help.  And  labour  and  care 
and  profit  and  loss  will  cease  to  be  a 
tangle  when  stamped  with  this  order: 

"Occupy  till  I  come." 

But  for  you  who  are  not  workers 
(the  why  and  wherefore  are  for  your- 
selves  to   say)    do  you   too   make   the 


WHAT   LEFT?  109 

Sabbath  a  day  of  rest.  Yet  do  not 
let  your  Sunday  rest  run  into  Sunday 
dissipation  by  trying  to  hear  all  the 
good  sermons  at  once.  Choose  (and 
abide  by)  some  true  church  so  near 
that  no  street  car  shall  be  run  for 
you,  and  yet — if  possible — far  enough 
off  to  give  you  a  freshening  walk  as 
you  go  and  come.  Neither  take  out 
your  carriage,  ''that  thine  ox  and 
thine  ass  may  rest."^  Of  course  I 
speak  only  of  places  where  it  is  pos- 
sible to  walk  to  church. 

Get  up  early  enough  to  have  no 
hurry  and  no  **late."  Have  a  simple 
church  dress  that  will  need  no  fussing; 
have  a  simple  breakfast,  without  "hot 
cakes,"  and  a  cold  dinner,  "that  thy 
man  servant  and  thy  maid  servant  may 
rest  as  well  as  thou."  ^ 

1  Ex.  xxiii.  12.  2  Deut.  v.  14. 


no        TIRED    CHURCH   MEMBERS. 

I  know  it  is  charged  upon  the  men 
of  the  family  that  they  will  never 
*' stand"  a  cold  dinner.  But  I  have 
catered  for  just  such  many  times,  and 
I  know  they  will.  Only  be  you  care- 
ful on  Saturday,  to  provide  a  dainty 
repast  that  is  fit  to  eat  cold — and  then 
see.  You  will  find  those  very  grum- 
blers charmed  with  their  dinner,  and 
praising  it  before  any  other  in  the 
week.  You  can  always  grace  your 
cold  dishes  with  hot  coffee  and  baked 
potatoes. 

O  the  rest,  the  "recreation"  of  such 
a  day  !  With  all  earth's  turmoil  pushed 
aside,  and  Christ  himself  the  one  invi- 
ted guest.  Unless  indeed  some  needy 
friend,  who  can  have  no  ''Sunday"  else- 
where. People  talk  in  these  days  with 
horror  of  the  old  Puritan  sabbath.  But 
even   if  everything  be  true  that   they 


WHAT   LEFT?  Ill 

tell  of  it,  I  would  rather  spend  Sunday 
with  blinds  shut  and  pictures  turned  to 
the  wall,  than  in  the  full  week-day  glare 
which  fills  some  houses.  And  if  you 
want  refreshment  from  your  play-times 
in  the  week,  if  you  want  heart  and  mind 
and  face  to  keep  fresh,  begin  the  week 
with  the  Lord's  day  kept  wholly  to  the 
Lord. 

"Verily,  my  sabbaths  ye  shall  keep: 
for  it  is  a  sign  between  me  and  you 
throughout  your  generations."^ 

A  sabbath,  a  rest.  Rest  of  mind 
which  lingering  in  bed  will  not  give; 
rest  of  body  which  feasting  could  only 
hinder;  a  rest  of  heart  by  dwelling  all 
day  in  the  deep  shadow  of  the  Lord's 
presence.  So  beginning  the  week,  this 
promise  shall  be  upon  you  as  each  day 
rolls  on, 

1  Ex.  xxxi.  i^. 


112        TIRED    CHURCH  MEMBERS. 

''  My  presence  shall  g-o  with  thee, 
and  I  will  give  thee  rest."^ 

"And  in  all  things  that  I  have  said 
unto  you  be  circumspect;  and  make  no 
mention  of  the  name  of  other  gods, 
neither  let  it  be  heard  out  of  thy 
mouth."' 

1  Ex.  xiii.  14.  2  Ex.  xxiii.  13. 


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